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cudgel

 [kuhj-uhl]   Example Sentences Origin

cudg·el

   [kuhj-uhl] noun, verb, -eled, -el·ing, or (especially British) -elled, -el·ling.
noun
1.
a short, thick stick used as a weapon; club.
verb (used with object)
2.
to strike with a cudgel; beat.

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Cudgel is one of our favorite verbs.
So is lollygag. Does it mean:
to spend time idly; loaf.
to run away hurriedly; flee.
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Idioms
3.
cudgel one's brains, to try to comprehend or remember: I cudgeled my brains to recall her name.
4.
take up the cudgels, to come to the defense or aid of someone or something.
Origin:
before 900; Middle English cuggel, Old English cycgel; akin to German Kugel ball

Related forms
cudg·el·er; especially British, cud·gel·ler, noun
un·cudg·eled, adjective
un·cudg·elled, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To cudgel
Example Sentences
  • Americans transform every success and every failure in foreign affairs into a policy doctrine and a political cudgel.
  • European politicians have always been quick to use post-war reconciliation as a cudgel to pre-empt further debate.
  • Instead, many men are still seeking the clothes that will be their shield and cudgel on the industrial battlefield.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
cudgel (ˈkʌdʒəl)
 
—n (often foll by for or on behalf of)
1.  a short stout stick used as a weapon
2.  take up the cudgels to join in a dispute, esp to defend oneself or another
 
—vb , -els, -elling, -elled, -els, -eling, -eled
3.  (tr) to strike with a cudgel or similar weapon
4.  cudgel one's brains to think hard about a problem
 
[Old English cycgel; related to Middle Dutch koghele stick with knob]
 
'cudgeller
 
—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

cudgel
O.E. cycgel "club with rounded head;" not known in other Gmc. languages; perhaps from PIE base *geu- "to curve, bend." The verb is from 1596.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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