billy club

noun

: a heavy usually wooden club
specifically : a police officer's club

Examples of billy club in a Sentence

rapping the shoes of the sleeping vagrant with his billy club, the officer told him to move on
Recent Examples on the Web Benitez’s latest ruling on billy clubs also faces further review. Kevin Rector, Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2024 Contestants were humiliated or even beaten while ushers walked the aisles with billy clubs, threatening anyone who might leave. Jenelle Riley, Variety, 20 Sep. 2023 If the Second Amendment is not limited to firearms, Monday’s ruling also calls into question state-level bans on weapons like truncheons, saps, billy clubs, nunchucks, and the like. Matt Ford, The New Republic, 9 Aug. 2023 A couple of hundred soldiers came in with billy clubs. Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 21 Mar. 2023 Recent filings by government attorneys in those lawsuits shed light on how the state, applying the Supreme Court’s new standard, is attempting to defend its laws that ban or restrict automatic weapons, high-capacity magazines, ammunition purchases and billy clubs. San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Mar. 2023 Chauvin’s trial also takes place about 75 years after a similarly extreme case of police brutality that helped shape the modern civil rights movement, when a Black Army veteran was blinded in police custody after being beaten in the eye with a billy club. Olivia B. Waxman, Time, 30 Mar. 2021 These are not the guys with the billy club, chewing tobacco. Darcel Rockett, Chicago Tribune, 20 Oct. 2022 Lopez, who was armed with a gun while Sales had a knife and billy club, said he was punched by Sales, then opened fire, hitting him eight times. Greg Moran, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Feb. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'billy club.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

billy entry 2

First Known Use

1885, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of billy club was in 1885

Dictionary Entries Near billy club

Cite this Entry

“Billy club.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/billy%20club. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

billy club

noun
: a heavy wooden club
especially : nightstick
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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