Word of the Day

Thursday, January 18, 2007

cudgel

\KUH-juhl\ , noun;

A short heavy stick used as a weapon; a club.

transitive verb:

To beat with or as if with a cudgel.

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Quotes:

Whatever had been making her dogs uneasy, she'd have to handle it on her own. Rosie Bowe took a heavy piece of firewood as a cudgel and followed them.

-- Jim Crace, Signals of Distress

The Grand Vizier Kuprili of Constantinople, for example, . . . closed the city's coffeehouses. Anyone caught drinking coffee was soundly cudgeled.

-- Mark Pendergrast, Uncommon Grounds

Origin:

Cudgel derives from Old English cycgel.