cudgel

[kuhj-uhl]

noun

1. a short, thick stick used as a weapon; club.

verb (used with object)

cudgeled, cudgeling , cudgelled, cudgelling .

1. to strike with a cudgel; beat.

cudgel

/ ˈkʌdʒəl /

noun

1. a short stout stick used as a weapon

2. to join in a dispute, esp to defend oneself or another

verb

1. (tr) to strike with a cudgel or similar weapon

2. to think hard about a problem

Other Word Forms

• cudgeller noun
• cudgeler noun
• uncudgeled adjective
• uncudgelled adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cudgel¹

before 900; Middle English cuggel, Old English cycgel; akin to German Kugel ball

Word History and Origins

Origin of cudgel¹

Old English cycgel; related to Middle Dutch koghele stick with knob

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. take up the cudgels, to come to the defense or aid of someone or something.

2. cudgel one's brains, to try to comprehend or remember.

   I cudgeled my brains to recall her name.

Example Sentences

The use of tariff threats as a cudgel to try to save an ally from legal peril also gives lie to the purported rationale behind tariffs: protecting U.S. manufacturers or correcting trade imbalances.

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“Because people will say, ‘Well, this is just basically a cudgel, there’s not an issue at all, and it’s just being exploited.’”

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But in other circumstances, the law became a powerful cudgel wielded to influence concerns that at best had a tangential relationship to the environment.

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Trump, meanwhile, is opposing Maine on conservative ideological grounds using federal funding as the cudgel to prevail.

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None of which made it a less effective cudgel.

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Related Words

• nightstick www.thesaurus.com
• truncheon