Cudgel Definition
kŭjəl
cudgeled, cudgeling, cudgelled, cudgelling, cudgels
noun
cudgels
A short, thick stick or club.
Webster's New World
verb
cudgeled, cudgeling, cudgelled, cudgelling, cudgels
To beat with a cudgel.
Webster's New World
To exercise (one's wits or brains).
Wiktionary
idiom
take up the cudgels (for)
- to come to the defense (of)
Webster's New World
Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Cudgel
- take up the cudgels (for)
Origin of Cudgel
-
From Middle English kuggel, from Old English cycgel (“a large stick, cudgel”), from Proto-Germanic *kuggilaz (“knobbed instrument”), derivative of Proto-Germanic *kuggōn (“cog, swelling”), from Proto-Indo-European *geugʰ- (“swelling, bow”), from Proto-Indo-European *geu-, *gū- (“to bow, bend, arch, curve”). Cognate with Middle Dutch coghele (“stick with a rounded end”). Related to cog.
From Wiktionary
Middle English cuggel from Old English cycgel
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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