Cudgel

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ÊŒdÊ’É™l

Origin

From Middle English kuggel, from Old English cycgel ("a large stick, cudgel"), from Proto-Germanic *kuggilaz ("knobbed instrument"), derivative of Proto-Germanic *kuggōn ("cog, swelling"), from Proto-Indo-European *geugʰ- ("swelling, bow"), from Proto-Indo-European *geu-, *gū- ("to bow, bend, arch, curve"). Cognate with Middle Dutch coghele ("stick with a rounded end"). Related to cog.

Full definition of cudgel

Noun

1. A short heavy club with a rounded head used as a weapon.The guard hefted his cudgel menacingly and looked at the inmates. The threat to swing glinted in his eye.
• 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin HoodThen they had bouts of wrestling and of cudgel play, so that every day they gained in skill and strength.
• BunyanHe getteth him a grievous crabtree cudgel and ... falls to rating of them as if they were dogs.

Synonyms

• club

Verb

1. To strike with a cudgel.The officer was violently cudgeled down in the midst of the rioters, with his own beatstick no less.
• ShakespeareI would cudgel him like a dog if he would say so.
2. To exercise (one's wits or brains).

Anagrams

• cludge