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DictionarycudgelHeavy stick weapon
noun / verb

cudgel

KUJ-ul/ˈkʌdʒl/

A short, heavy stick used as a weapon, or to beat with one.

The wooden cudgel has a narrow grip and a heavy striking end.

An isolated wooden cudgel with a short, thick shaft, a narrowed handgrip, and a heavy rounded striking end, clearly shaped as a club rather than a walking stick.
Etymology
cudgelOld Englishclub with a rounded head

Old English cycgel named a club with a rounded head. The modern meaning preserves that concrete image of a stout striking weapon.

In context

Enhanced Public Domain230:56
I took a thick cudgel and threw it with all my strength so luckily at a linit that I knocked him down
1700s Satire: Jonathan Swift - Gulliver's Travels (Audiobook)

More examples

  • The museum displays a cudgel carved from a single branch.
  • The men drop their cudgels when the sheriff arrives.
  • The robber cudgeled the guard and took his keys.

Forms

cudgel · cudgels · cudgeled · cudgeling

Similar words

club
A broader term for a heavy stick used for striking.
bludgeon
Can also mean any heavy object used for beating.