: a short heavy club
The eighteenth-century audience went to the theatre armed with whistles, rattles, … and sometimes even wooden cudgels.—
Ronald Hayman
Ronald Hayman
cudgeled or cudgelled; cudgeling or cudgelling
ˈkəj-liŋ 
ˈkə-jə-
: to beat with or as if with a cudgel
Synonyms
Examples of cudgel in a Sentence
Noun
a farmer armed with a cudgel drove us off his land
Recent Examples on the WebDaniel Desrochers, Kansas City Star, 30 May 2024
But the position became a cudgel for Democrats in key races and cost Republicans seats, with losses in swing states including Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
—Lisa Lerer, New York Times, 30 May 2024
Timothy Ryback, TIME, 26 Apr. 2024
Before long, fairs had such attractions as cudgelling bouts, bearbaiting, and something called gouging.
—Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 14 Aug. 2023
See all Example Sentences for cudgel 
Noun
The state parties have not used the trial as a cudgel against Republican candidates, and Kansas City-area Democratic Reps. Sharice Davids and Emanuel Cleaver have refrained from making frequent comments about the case.
—Daniel Desrochers, Kansas City Star, 30 May 2024
But the position became a cudgel for Democrats in key races and cost Republicans seats, with losses in swing states including Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
—Lisa Lerer, New York Times, 30 May 2024
Verb
Hitler exploited his 37% to gridlock legislative processes, to cudgel or crush the political opposition, and ultimately to undermine the country’s democratic structures.
—Timothy Ryback, TIME, 26 Apr. 2024
Before long, fairs had such attractions as cudgelling bouts, bearbaiting, and something called gouging.
—Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 14 Aug. 2023
See all Example Sentences for cudgel
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cudgel.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Cudgel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cudgel. Accessed 6 Jun. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
cudgel
1 of 2 noun
cud·gel
ˈkəj-əl
: a short heavy club
cudgel
2 of 2 verb
cudgeled or cudgelled; cudgeling or cudgelling
-(ə-)liŋ
: to beat with or as if with a cudgel
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