truncheon

[ truhn-chuhn ]

noun

1. the club carried by a police officer; billy.
2. a staff representing an office or authority; baton.
3. the shattered shaft of a spear.
4. Obsolete. cudgel; bludgeon.

verb (used with object)

1. Archaic. to beat with a club.

truncheon

/ ˈtrʌntʃən /

noun

1. a short thick club or cudgel carried by a policeman
2. a baton of office

   a marshal's truncheon

3. archaic.
   a short club or cudgel
4. the shaft of a spear

verb

1. tr to beat with a truncheon

Word History and Origins

Origin of truncheon¹

1300–50; Middle English tronchon fragment < Middle French < Vulgar Latin *trunciōn-, stem of *trunciō literally, a lopping. See trunk, -ion

Word History and Origins

Origin of truncheon¹

C16: from Old French tronchon stump, from Latin truncus trunk; see truncate

Example Sentences

Lukashenko responded by dispatching heavily armed security forces who beat protesters with truncheons and rifle butts, and hauled them into miserable, jam-packed prisons.

From Time

Ludmila says that she attacked a policeman bludgeoning an elderly woman with a truncheon, but in vain—the woman died.

From The Daily Beast

Truncheon spoke in a low voice, and with the deepest and most respectful melancholy.

From Project Gutenberg

And she shot one glance at Fitzroy, who shot another at the great Truncheon, who held down his eyes.

From Project Gutenberg

The gesture is mainly pride, but there is misgiving in it, too: the knowledge that the pen is not as mighty as the truncheon.

From Project Gutenberg

I think that he actually had provided himself with a truncheon to meet all the emergencies of supreme command.

From Project Gutenberg

The dagger and the night-stick (the latter a stout truncheon weighted with lead) were doing the work, and effectively, too.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• baton