pommel
Americannoun
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a knob, as on the hilt of a sword.
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the protuberant part at the front and top of a saddle.
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Architecture. a spherical ornament or finial.
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Gymnastics. either of the two curved handles on the top surface of a side horse.
verb (used with object)
noun
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the raised part on the front of a saddle
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a knob at the top of a sword or similar weapon
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pommelsimple
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pommelssimple
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have pommeledperfect
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have pommelledperfect
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has pommeledperfect
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has pommelledperfect
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am pommelingprogressive
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am pommellingprogressive
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are pommelingprogressive
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are pommellingprogressive
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is pommelingprogressive
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is pommellingprogressive
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have been pommelingperfect progressive
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have been pommellingperfect progressive
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has been pommelingperfect progressive
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has been pommellingperfect progressive
Past
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pommeledsimple
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pommelledsimple
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had pommeledperfect
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had pommelledperfect
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was pommelingprogressive
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was pommellingprogressive
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were pommelingprogressive
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were pommellingprogressive
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had been pommelingperfect progressive
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had been pommellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pommel
1300–50; (noun) Middle English pomel < Middle French, derivative of Old French pom hilt of a sword < Latin pōmum fruit; see pome, -elle
Explanation
A pommel is the rounded knob on a horse's saddle that a rider grips with one hand. The raised front of the saddle itself can also be called a pommel. Some saddles, particularly the modern western type, have a metal grip at the front, known either as a horn or a pommel. Other saddles don't have this knob, but instead have a raised front edge that's also called the pommel. When pommel is used as a verb, it means "beat or strike repeatedly," a variation on the word pummel. The Old French root is pomel, "rounded knob," from the Latin word pomum, or "apple."
Vocabulary lists containing pommel
Horsin' Around
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Vocabulary of the Summer Olympics
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Maniac Magee
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Ward sat seventh after the floor exercise, but streaked into the lead after a splendid performance on the pommel - routinely his strongest event.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Stephen Nedoroscik, who helped the U.S. capture bronze in the Olympic gymnastics team event, earns another bronze in the individual pommel horse event.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2024
Nedoroscik secured his second bronze medal in the individual pommel horse final on Aug. 3.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2024
The Rubik's Cube-solving 'pommel horse guy' stared deep into the pommel horse, as he quietly waited his turn.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2024
He laid his hand on the pommel of his sword then, and went on in the solemn voice of Robb the Lord.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
In the team finals however, a nightmarish set on pommels sent the Americans tumbling to fifth.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 25, 2023
Hilts and pommels were and are the most common decoration, for dragonglass is too brittle to make a useful crossguard.
From Time ● Jul. 17, 2017
The 1996 Olympic pommel horse champion Donghua Li performed a surprisingly moving routine to pommels attached to the balance beam.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2016
The 7th Century hoard of 1,600 items including sword pommels, helmet parts and processional crosses was valued at £3.285m.
From BBC ● Jan. 2, 2015
They hand their burdens to others while they mount, then take the sacks again and loop them over the pommels of their saddles.
From "Tiger, Tiger" by Lynne Reid Banks
Illinois pommeled Northwestern, 7-6; Minnesota bewildered Iowa, 38-0.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the attempt, My Philadelphia Father got pommeled and knocked about like one of Biddle's sparring partners, and Biddle himself at times got kept out of sight in his corner.
From Time Magazine Archive
The workmen, seeing the reinforcements, beat a retreat, carrying their sadly pommeled comrades with them, but their insulting language was not restricted until they had passed out of hearing.
From Aunt Jane's Nieces on Vacation by Baum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank)
And after I had pommeled off the two pounds she'd gained at a twelve-course dinner the night before, she begins to tell me of her charities.
From The Shadow by Ovington, Mary White
David cried, pleaded, pommeled the Phoenix with his fists.
From David and the Phoenix by Raysor, Joan
To get well pommelled for his pains, and do no good to any one, himself included.
From What Answer? by Dickinson, Anna E.
The invaders, pushed and pommelled by dint of such audacity and hard hitting, were cooped up like sheep into narrower and narrower space.
From Hellenica by Dakyns, Henry Graham
Shrouded in earth-coloured garments, they shrieked, strove, rang their bells, kicked their donkeys, elbowed their rivals, pommelled their camels, recited the Koran, or testified with frenzy, the terrific honesty of all their dealings.
From Bye-Ways by Hichens, Robert Smythe
All the more reason for bringing the undertaking to a swift conclusion: wherefore I pommelled and spurred my hapless steed along with a ruthlessness of which at any other time I should be heartily ashamed.
From A Veldt Vendetta by Mitford, Bertram
He stirred and pommelled the Mulgars with his pole.
From The Three Mulla-mulgars by De la Mare, Walter
Old friends and allies did their best to save Britain this final pommeling.
From Time Magazine Archive
He caught the subway with the crowd of stockbrokers who came romping out of the stock exchange like released schoolboys after the day's tension, pommeling and shoving each other with released glee.
From Making Money by Johnson, Owen
"A generous fellow plays for the play, a sordid one for the stake; an old fogy sits by and smokes the pipe of tranquillity, while Jack and Tom are pommeling each other in the ring."
From The History of Pendennis, Volume 2 His Fortunes and Misfortunes, His Friends and His Greatest Enemy by Thackeray, William Makepeace
Charity rewarded his chivalrous pommeling of Cheever by asking him never to come near her again.
From We Can't Have Everything by Hughes, Rupert
“In my castle,” says Joinville, “whosoever uses bad language receives a good pommeling, and this has nearly put down that bad habit.”
From Chips From A German Workshop. Vol. III. Essays on Literature, Biography, and Antiquities by Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)
Dick was stunned for a moment, and lay quite still, so the deer left off pommelling him, and stood looking at him.
From The Dog Crusoe and his Master by Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
A bag stuffed with hay is so round that it is very difficult to keep upon it without rolling off, and there was much pommelling and flattening before the beds were at all tenable.
From The Madcap of the School by Salmon, Balliol
Hilda, in the excitement of the moment, had stopped to exchange a word with the doctor's coachman as he stood by the horses, pommelling his chest and clapping his hands.
From Hans Brinker; or, the Silver Skates by Dodge, Mary Mapes
Presently they reached a point from which the cistern-keeper was visible, seated, as usual, just within the door pommelling the pavement.
From The Prince of India — Volume 02 by Wallace, Lewis
“He's afraid,” said the boy who had advised the more severe pommelling, “old 'fraid-cat!”
From Five Little Peppers at School by Heyer, Hermann
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
