quarterstaff
Americannoun
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quarterstaves,
plural
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quarterstaffs
plural
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a former English weapon consisting of a stout pole 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 meters) long, tipped with iron.
-
exercise or fighting with this weapon.
noun
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a stout iron-tipped wooden staff about 6ft long, formerly used in England as a weapon
-
the use of such a staff in fighting, sport, or exercise
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of quarterstaff
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:
On NBC, an American Gladiator is a beefcake model in a unitard swinging his padded quarterstaff.
From Time Magazine Archive
A quarterstaff bout—a frantic, bloody sport revived from God only knew how many centuries before—was in progress there, matching a heavily muscled Nordic with a sandy bristle of hair against a swarthy, hairless Eurasian.
From Assignment's End by Roger D. Aycock
They spotted a ruckus and could see Elmer Allen in the middle of it, his quarterstaff flailing.
From Black Man's Burden by Mack Reynolds
We haven't got time for lessons in the use of the quarterstaff.
From Border, Breed Nor Birth by Mack Reynolds
Warbel says they will bait a bull, and perhaps a bear; and that there will be fighting with the quarterstaff and shooting with cross and long bow, and many other like spectacles.
From The Secret Chamber at Chad by Evelyn Everett-Green
"You two cats been checked out on quarterstaffs?"
From Black Man's Burden by Mack Reynolds
Elmer and Kenny would be the other twosome, and, both armed with quarterstaffs would be troubleshooters.
From Black Man's Burden by Mack Reynolds
"Using these quarterstaffs brings to mind some of the other supposedly innoxious devices used by police authorities in controlling unruly demonstrations," he said.
From Black Man's Burden by Mack Reynolds
Perhaps the army of the U. S. really has something able to scatter a troop of teen-age Boy Scouts armed with quarterstaves.
From Time Magazine Archive
Not a night can I sleep for some horrid apparition or other; one while these myrmidons are measuring silks by their quarterstaves, another stuffing their greasy pouches with my lord high treasurer's jacobuses.
From The Commonwealth of Oceana by James Harrington
This, which would only have brought us all into a brunt with quarterstaves, and similar servile weapons, was declined, as had been foreseen.
From Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 2 by Sir Richard Francis Burton
The outlaws—for such they seemed—were roughly clad in gray homespun and Lincoln green, and armed with bows and quarterstaves.
From Cedric, the Forester by Bernard Gay Marshall
Through the streets parties of Badawin, sword and matchlock in hand, or merely carrying quarterstaves on their shoulders, might be seen hurrying along, frantic at the chance of missing the fray.
From Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 2 by Sir Richard Francis Burton
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.
