CUDGEL

cudgel

(noun) a club that is used as a weapon

cudgel, fustigate

(verb) strike with a cudgel

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

cudgel (plural cudgels)

A short heavy club with a rounded head used as a weapon.

(figurative) Anything that can be used as a threat to force one's will on another.

Verb

cudgel (third-person singular simple present cudgels, present participle (UK) cudgelling or (US) cudgeling, simple past and past participle (UK) cudgelled or (US) cudgeled)

To strike with a cudgel.

To exercise (one's wits or brains).

Anagrams

• cludge

Source: Wiktionary


Cudg"el (kj"l), n. Etym: [OE. kuggel; cf. G. keule club (with a round end), kugel ball, or perh. W. cogyl cudgel, or D. cudse, kuds, cudgel.]

Definition: A staff used in cudgel play, shorter than the quarterstaff, and wielded with one hand; hence, any heavy stick used as a weapon. He getteth him a grievous crabtree cudgel and . . . falls to rating of them as if they were dogs. Bunyan. Cudgel play, a fight or sportive contest with cudgels.

– To cross the cudgels, to forbear or give up the contest; -- a phrase borrowed from the practice of cudgel players, who lay one cudgel over another when the contest is ended.

– To take up cudgels for, to engage in a contest in behalf of (some one or something).

Cudg"el, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cudgeled or Cudgelled (-; p. pr. & vb. n. Cudgeling or cudgelling.]

Definition: To beat with a cudgel. An he here, I would cudgel him like a dog. Shak. To cudgel one's brains, to exercise one's wits.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

18 April 2025

GROIN

(noun) the crease at the junction of the inner part of the thigh with the trunk together with the adjacent region and often including the external genitals


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