club

[kluhb]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR club ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a heavy stick, usually thicker at one end than at the other, suitable for use as a weapon; a cudgel.

a group of persons organized for a social, literary, athletic, political, or other purpose: They organized a computer club.

the building or rooms occupied by such a group.

an organization that offers its subscribers certain benefits, as discounts, bonuses, or interest, in return for regular purchases or payments: a book club; a record club; a Christmas club.

Sports.

a stick or bat used to drive a ball in various games, as golf.
Indian club.

a nightclub, especially one in which people dance to popular music, drink, and socialize: Last night we went to all the clubs in town.

a black trefoil-shaped figure on a playing card.

a card bearing such figures.

clubs, (used with a singular or plural verb) the suit so marked: Clubs is trump. Clubs are trump.

club sandwich.

Nautical.

a short spar attached to the end of a gaff to allow the clew of a gaff topsail to extend beyond the peak of the gaff.
a short spar attached to the truck of a mast to support the upper part of a club topsail.
clubfoot(def 3).

verb (used with object), clubbed, club·bing.

to beat with or as with a club.

to gather or form into a clublike mass.

to unite; combine; join together.

to contribute as one's share toward a joint expense; make up by joint contribution (often followed by up or together): They clubbed their dollars together to buy the expensive present.

to defray by proportional shares.

to hold (a rifle, shotgun, etc.) by the barrel, so as to use the stock as a club.

verb (used without object), clubbed, club·bing.

Informal. to go to nightclubs, especially to dance, drink, and socialize: The students at that university go clubbing every Friday night.

to combine or join together, as for a common purpose.

to attend a club or a club's activities.

to gather into a mass.

to contribute to a common fund.

Nautical. to drift in a current with an anchor, usually rigged with a spring, dragging or dangling to reduce speed.

adjective

of or relating to a club.

consisting of a combination of foods offered at the price set on the menu: They allow no substitutions on the club luncheon.

Origin of club

1175–1225; Middle English clubbe < Old Norse klubba club; akin to clump

Related formsin·ter·club, adjectivesu·per·club, noun

Synonyms for club

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR club ON THESAURUS.COM

1. bludgeon, billy. 2, 4. association, society. 12. bludgeon, batter, maul, cudgel.

Synonym study

2, 4. See circle.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for club

business, staff, union, league, company, association, society, bash, clobber, pummel, whack, bludgeon, sap, cudgel, works, baton, mace, blackjack, truncheon, hammer

Examples from the Web for club

Contemporary Examples of club

A running joke inside the tribe is that the group is like that club with a hundred people waiting outside to get in.
‘We Out Here’: Inside the New Black Travel Movement
Charlise Ferguson
January 4, 2015
Jay Z, Leonardo DiCaprio (also in Miami, sighted leaving a club with 20 women), and Owen Wilson are all dedicated art collectors.
William, Kate, and Jay Z’s Favorite Art Star: Alexander Gilkes' World of Rock Stars and Royalty
Tim Teeman
December 10, 2014
Jones ruled for Ray and he is now back in business, eligible to sign with any NFL club.
The $44 Million Teflon Don of the NFL
Mike Barnicle
November 30, 2014
Inside, the club is built like a baroque theater, with a dance floor in the center and rows of loggias up the walls.
Russia’s Gold Digger Academy
Peter Pomerantsev
November 11, 2014
She met a Forbes at the club the other night who is fond of literature.
Russia’s Gold Digger Academy
Peter Pomerantsev
November 11, 2014

Historical Examples of club

Almost every tavern of note about town hath or had its club.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 267, August 4, 1827
Various
Good beef and mutton will no longer serve his turn, I've been told at the club.
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
Red Morning had a club he had made, with a flint set into the side.
The Trail Book
Mary Austin
The club then adjourned to the outside, all except those who sat on the bench.
In the Midst of Alarms
Robert Barr
I believe you're only marrying me to get away from that club you're living in!
The Foolish Lovers
St. John G. Ervine

British Dictionary definitions for club

club

noun

a stout stick, usually with one end thicker than the other, esp one used as a weapon

a stick or bat used to strike the ball in various sports, esp golfSee golf club (def. 1)

short for Indian club

a group or association of people with common aims or interestsa wine club

the room, building, or facilities used by such a group
(in combination)clubhouse

a building in which elected, fee-paying members go to meet, dine, read, etc

a commercial establishment in which people can drink and dance; discoSee also nightclub

mainly British an organization, esp in a shop, set up as a means of saving

British an informal word for friendly society

the black trefoil symbol on a playing card
a card with one or more of these symbols or (when pl) the suit of cards so marked

nautical

a spar used for extending the clew of a gaff topsail beyond the peak of the gaff
short for club foot (def. 3)

in the club British slang pregnant

on the club British slang away from work due to sickness, esp when receiving sickness benefit

verb clubs, clubbing or clubbed

(tr) to beat with or as if with a club

(often foll by together) to gather or become gathered into a group

(often foll by together) to unite or combine (resources, efforts, etc) for a common purpose

(tr) to use (a rifle or similar firearm) as a weapon by holding the barrel and hitting with the butt

(intr) nautical to drift in a current, reducing speed by dragging anchor

Derived Formsclubbing, noun

Word Origin for club

C13: from Old Norse klubba, related to Middle High German klumpe group of trees, clump, Old English clympre lump of metal

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for club

c.1200, "thick stick used as a weapon," from Old Norse klubba "cudgel" or a similar Scandinavian source (cf. Swedish klubba, Danish klubbe), assimilated from Proto-Germanic *klumbon, related to clump (n.). Old English words for this were sagol, cycgel. Specific sense of "bat used in games" is from mid-15c.

The club suit in the deck of cards (1560s) bears the correct name (Spanish basto, Italian bastone), but the pattern adopted on English cards is the French trefoil. Cf. Danish klőver, Dutch klaver "a club at cards," literally "a clover."

The social club (1660s) apparently evolved from this word from the verbal sense "gather in a club-like mass" (1620s), then, as a noun, "association of people" (1640s).

We now use the word clubbe for a sodality in a tavern. [John Aubrey, 1659]

Admission to membership of clubs is commonly by ballot. Clubs are now an important feature of social life in all large cities, many of them occupying large buildings containing reading-rooms, libraries, restaurants, etc. [Century Dictionary, 1902]

I got a good mind to join a club and beat you over the head with it. [Rufus T. Firefly]

Club sandwich recorded by 1899, apparently as a type of sandwich served in clubs; club soda is 1877, originally a proprietary name.

"to hit with a club," 1590s, from club (v.). Meaning "gather in a club-like mass" is from 1620s. Related: Clubbed; clubbing.

CLUB, verb (military). -- In manoeuvring troops, so to blunder the word of command that the soldiers get into a position from which they cannot extricate themselves by ordinary tactics. [Farmer & Henley]

Idioms and Phrases with club

club

see join the club.