Sekirov Dictionary

cudgel

/ˈkʌd͡ʒəl/

noun 2
verb 2
forms 5
phrases 1

noun2

•
A short heavy club with a rounded head used as a weapon.
- The guard hefted his cudgel menacingly and looked at the inmates.
•
(figurative) Anything that can be used as a threat to force one's will on another.
- As above said, legibility depends also much on the design of the letter; and again I take up the cudgels against compressed type, and that especially in Roman letters: […] — 1893

verb2

•
To strike with a cudgel.
- The officer was violently cudgeled down in the midst of the rioters.
•
To exercise (one's wits or brains) in an effort to force a memory or solution; to rack (one's mind).
- “Most remarkable,” murmured Tarzan, cudgeling his brain for some pretext upon which to turn the subject. — 1913

forms

cudgeled · cudgelled · cudgeling · cudgelling · cudgels

Phrases with cudgel

take up the cudgel for
To make a defense for someone or something, on behalf of another person.

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