truncheon
Americannoun
-
the club carried by a police officer; billy.
-
a staff representing an office or authority; baton.
-
the shattered shaft of a spear.
-
Obsolete. cudgel; bludgeon.
verb (used with object)
-
truncheons,
present (3rd person singular)
-
truncheoned,
past participle, past
-
truncheoning
present participle
noun
-
a short thick club or cudgel carried by a policeman
-
a baton of office
a marshal's truncheon
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archaic a short club or cudgel
-
the shaft of a spear
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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truncheonsimple
-
truncheonssimple
-
have truncheonedperfect
-
has truncheonedperfect
-
am truncheoningprogressive
-
are truncheoningprogressive
-
is truncheoningprogressive
-
have been truncheoningperfect progressive
-
has been truncheoningperfect progressive
Past
-
truncheonedsimple
-
had truncheonedperfect
-
was truncheoningprogressive
-
were truncheoningprogressive
-
had been truncheoningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of truncheon
1300–50; Middle English tronchon fragment < Middle French < Vulgar Latin *trunciōn-, stem of *trunciō literally, a lopping. See trunk, -ion
Explanation
A truncheon is a short, thick club, mainly used by police officers. If you find yourself face-to-face with a truncheon, you better behave. A truncheon is used by a police officer as a less deadly weapon than a gun. Just the sight of a police officer's truncheon is enough to make most people cooperate, but police are trained to use a truncheon to neutralize a violent suspect. Truncheons are also called batons, billy clubs, and nightsticks. The word truncheon comes from the Old French tronchon, "a broken off piece" or "a stump," is based on the Latin word truncus, "cut off."
Vocabulary lists containing truncheon
Refugee
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1984
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And Then There Were None
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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:
We snap back to the present, where Cortez—that’s the name on the back of the football jersey of this conquistador—flicks down an eye shield and snaps a truncheon to the ready.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 6, 2019
He’s such a menace that it’s tempting to cheer any vituperative critic and grab any handy truncheon.
From New York Times ● Nov. 10, 2018
The butcher handed one of their puddings to the prince, who said, “My word, it’s like a truncheon, isn’t it? Will you please give Mr McCabe my best wishes?”
From The Guardian ● Feb. 16, 2018
Somehow with just 19 pro victories he had quick-lipped his way into a world-heavyweight bout with Sonny Liston, the gangsters’ pal with the truncheon fists, against whom he was an 8-1 underdog.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 4, 2016
A man with a smooth prizefighter’s jowl in which the mouth was only a slit paused opposite him, balancing his truncheon meditatively between thumb and forefinger.
From "1984" by George Orwell
Children giggle and run as kilikis with soft foam truncheons bop them if they get too close.
From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2025
He said policemen whose job was to control the crowds in front of the emergency department only carried truncheons.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 9, 2023
"Unjustified arrests, unexplained delays, police cordons, masks and truncheons," nationalist lawmaker and former soccer executive Igor Lebedev commented on Twitter, describing last month's Russian Cup final in Samara.
From Fox News ● Jun. 14, 2019
Their wages shrivelled by inflation post-World War One, police officers in the Massachusetts city got organised and in 1919 downed their truncheons.
From BBC ● May 6, 2018
Because we are not like those clumsy-made truncheons in the land-world, which cannot go without having a whole man to carry them about.
From The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley
Fancy finding a real bar whence drinks may be obtained! and, joy of joys, fancy stepping out of the hotel into the arms of a live, white, helmeted, buttoned, truncheoned Bobby!
From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Rudyard Kipling
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.
