cudgel
To strike with a cudgelTo strike with a cudgel.
» The ogre brandished a crude cudgel.
Meaning
2 sensesTo strike with a cudgel.
The officer was violently cudgeled down in the midst of the rioters.
strike with a cudgel
To exercise (one's wits or brains) in an effort to force a memory or solution; to rack (one's mind).
Examples
3 sentencesThe ogre brandished a crude cudgel.
It will scarcely be any easier on the people if the cudgel with which they are beaten is called the people's cudgel.
ruНароду отнюдь не будет легче, если палка, которою его будут бить, будет называться палкою народной.
You don't care about Tom. You're only using him as a cudgel to beat John with.
Translations
1 languagesOrigin
From Middle English kuggel, from Old English cyċġel (“a large stick, cudgel”), from Proto-From Middle English kuggel, from Old English cyċġel (“a large stick, cudgel”), from Proto-West Germanic *kuggil, from Proto-Germanic *kuggilaz (“a knobbed instrument”), derivative of Proto-Germanic *kuggǭ (“cog, swelling”), from Proto-Indo-European *gewgʰ- (“swelling, bow”), from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bow, bend, arch, curve”), equivalent to cog + -el (diminutive suffix). Cognate with Middle Dutch coghele (“a stick with a rounded end”).
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Forms
cudgels, cudgeling, cudgeled, cudgeledSynonyms
1 synonyms- strike with a cudgel:fustigate
Word family
5 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle