cudgel

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (5)  · 
“
In this country the cudgel was the instrument of education and of government.

View all »
Definitions (11)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A short heavy stick; a club.
  2. transitive verb To beat or strike with or as if with a cudgel.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • He succeeded in avoiding the stroke of Thomas's cudgel, and immediately closed with him. —  The White Slave; or, Memoirs of a Fugitive
  • Let Young take up the cudgel, and I'll see what the church can do. —  Tess of the Storm Country
  • Minnie has skipped with a flouncing caper over his line, however; whereas the mark traced by a lustier cudgel has been a barrier insurmountable to Limbert. —  Embarrassments
  • The first time that Peter deniéd his Lord He shrank from the cudgel, the scourge and the cord But followed far off to see what they would do Till the cock crew--till the cock crew After Gethsemane, till the cock crew The first time that Peter deniéd his Lord Twas only a maid in the palace who heard As he sat by the fire and warmed himself through Then the cock crew! —  The Years Between
  • I accoutred myself thus on landing, at the urgent advice of a friend, though my good cudgel--which has sufficed for all my needs hitherto--is more to my mind, besides being useful as a mountain staff. —  The Rover of the Andes A Tale of Adventure on South America
More examples »
 

Tags

cudgel hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 113 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English cuggel, from Old English cycgel.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English kuggel, of Celtic origin; Welsh cogyl, a cudgel, club; orig. perhaps ‘distaff’; cf. Welsh cogail, a truncheon, distaff, = Gaelic cuaille, a club, cudgel, bludgeon, cuigeal, a distaff, = Irish cuaill, a pole, stake, staff, cuigeal, coigeal, a distaff; cf. Irish cuach, a bottom of yarn, cuachog, a skein of thread. So English distaff is named from the bunch of flax on the end.
  2. from cudgel, n.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈkədʒɛl/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about twice a month.

Recently looked up

awful · smithereens · duhhh · diminished · tj

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

eu oi oìa u ou e u oìa · the octopi are dry · Kansas City · spell it rite · put it in your pocket