cudgel
cudgel Lexical Profile
cudgel Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A short, thick stick or club used as a weapon.
"The medieval watchman carried a heavy wooden cudgel and a lantern on his nightly rounds."
• verb
To strike or beat with a heavy stick or club.
"In the folk tale, the farmer threatened to cudgel the mischievous goblin if it returned to his barn."
To force or strain to think hard in order to solve a problem or recall something (used with 'one's brains').
"She had to cudgel her brains to remember the name of the hotel where they had stayed ten years earlier."
Word Nuance & Usage
In British English, the final consonant is doubled before suffixes (cudgelled, cudgelling), whereas American English typically uses a single 'l' (cudgeled, cudgeling). The noun frequently appears in the idiom 'take up the cudgels', meaning to defend a person or cause vigorously.
• Rhymes for cudgel
Word Origin & Etymology
Derived from Old English 'cycgel', meaning a heavy club or knobbed stick, sharing Germanic roots with words referring to a round mass or ball.