truncheon

English

Etymology

From Old French tronchon (“thick stick”), from Late Latin *troncionem, from Latin truncus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈtɹʌntʃən/ SAMPA: /trVnS@n/
• Rhymes: -ʌntʃən

Noun

truncheon (plural truncheons)

1. (obsolete) A fragment or piece broken off from something, especially a broken-off piece of a spear or lance.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book VII.2:

     Helpe me that thys truncheoune were oute of my syde, for hit stykith so sore that hit nyghe sleyth me.

2. (obsolete) The shaft of a spear.
3. A short staff, a club; a cudgel.
   • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 52:

     One is a large ball of iron, fastened with three chains to a strong truncheon or staff of about two feet long; the other is of mixed metal, in the form of a channelled melon, fastened also to a staff by a triple chain; these balls weigh eight pounds.

   • Edmund Spenser

     With his truncheon he so rudely struck.

4. A baton, or military staff of command, now especially the stick carried by a police officer.
   • 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act II, Scene II, line 60.:

     Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword / The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe / Become them with one half so good a grace / As mercy does.

5. (obsolete) A stout stem, as of a tree, with the branches lopped off, to produce rapid growth.
6. (euphemistic) penis
   • 1749, John Cleland, Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure Part 3

     Then, being on his knees between my legs, he drew up his shirt and bared all his hairy thighs, and stiff staring truncheon, red-topt and rooted into a thicket of curls

See also

• bludgeon

Verb

truncheon (third-person singular simple present truncheons, present participle truncheoning, simple past and past participle truncheoned)

1. (transitive) To strike with a truncheon.