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cudgel

Pronunciation: /ˈkʌdʒ(ə)l/

Translate cudgel | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of cudgel

noun

  • a short, thick stick used as a weapon.

verb (cudgels, cudgelling, cudgelled; US cudgels, cudgeling, cudgeled)

[with object]
  • beat with a cudgel: they would lie in wait and cudgel her to death

Phrases

cudgel one's brain (or brains)

British think hard about a problem: she cudgelled her brain, trying to decide what had caused such an about-face

take up the cudgels

start to defend or support someone or something strongly:there was no one else to take up the cudgels on their behalf

Origin:

Old English cycgel, of unknown origin

cudgel in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of cudgel in the US English dictionary

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