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)
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pommels,
present (3rd person singular)
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pommeled,
past participle, past
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pommelled,
past participle, past (especially British)
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pommeling,
present participle
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pommelling
present participle (especially British)
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
-
pommelssimple
-
have pommeledperfect
-
have pommelledperfect
-
has pommeledperfect
-
has pommelledperfect
-
am pommelingprogressive
-
am pommellingprogressive
-
are pommelingprogressive
-
are pommellingprogressive
-
is pommelingprogressive
-
is pommellingprogressive
-
have been pommelingperfect progressive
-
have been pommellingperfect progressive
-
has been pommelingperfect progressive
-
has been pommellingperfect progressive
Past
-
pommeledsimple
-
pommelledsimple
-
had pommeledperfect
-
had pommelledperfect
-
was pommelingprogressive
-
was pommellingprogressive
-
were pommelingprogressive
-
were pommellingprogressive
-
had been pommelingperfect progressive
-
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:
A European, World, Commonwealth and Olympic champion on the pommel horse, he is undeniably one of the sport's greats, but we've been warned to expect 'Rhys 2.0' in Glasgow.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Conrad refers to one of the revelations of Floyd’s hidden abilities: “Can Hopper do the pommel horse?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
McClenaghan, who triumphed on the pommel horse in Paris, said it was "a huge honour".
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2025
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
The eagle-shaped pommel glinted in the midday sun.
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
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
David cried, pleaded, pommeled the Phoenix with his fists.
From David and the Phoenix by Joan Raysor
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 L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum
Then, indeed, they separated, thoroughly pommeled and frightened.
From Peter the Priest by Mór Jókai
A capital dinner was served for him on the middle deck, and the dog was rolled about and pommelled till he came to life again.
From From Pole to Pole A Book for Young People by Sven Anders Hedin
Every man endeavoured to be the first in making his exit, the door and passage were blocked up; each individual was pommelled by the person that happened to be behind him.
From The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle by T. (Tobias) Smollett
He settled the arms of the see—gules, a sword erect in pale argent, pommelled and hilted or, surmounted with two keys in saltire of the last.
From Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Exeter A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal See by Percy Addleshaw
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 Henry Graham Dakyns
A bag of sand, equal in weight to his adversary, was daily pommelled by the champion of America until he could make it swing and recoil satisfactorily.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 19, May, 1859 by Various
Old friends and allies did their best to save Britain this final pommeling.
From Time Magazine Archive
"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 William Makepeace Thackeray
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 Owen Johnson
“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 F. Max (Friedrich Max) Müller
Charity rewarded his chivalrous pommeling of Cheever by asking him never to come near her again.
From We Can't Have Everything by Rupert Hughes
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 Lewis Wallace
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 Mary Mapes Dodge
The beginning of my Roman history was spent in the asylum, or conversing in Egeria's hallowed grove; not in thumping and pommelling king Amulius's herdsmen.
From The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford — Volume 1 by Peter Cunningham
As the clenched fist likewise somewhat resembles an apple, perhaps that might occasion the term pommelling to be applied to fisty-cuffs.
From 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
They shook Roy into consciousness with joyous riot, pommelling him with affectionate roughness till he rose and joined with them stiffly.
From The Spoilers by Rex Ellingwood Beach
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.
