"get the axe"

I know "get the axe" means to be fired or eliminated from employment, but who knows the derivation of this phrase?

I couldn't find this phrase in my reference books. But it seems obvious to me that it refers to a tree being cut down. A tree is "felled." An employee is fired.

Unless it's the executioner's axe we're speaking of.... just as final, but more vivid.

Yes, you're right. I was thinking nonviolent -- a woodsman felling a tree. But executioner does make more sense.