truncheon

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹʌntʃən/

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• Rhymes: -ʌntʃən

truncheon (plural truncheons)

1. (obsolete) A fragment or piece broken off from something, especially a broken-off piece of a spear or lance.
   • 1485 July 31, Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], (please specify the book number), [London]: […] [by William Caxton], OCLC 71490786; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: Published by David Nutt, […], 1889, OCLC 890162034:

     , Bk.VII:

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

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.3:

     Therewith asunder in the midst it brast, / And in his hand nought but the troncheon left […].

2. (obsolete) The shaft of a spear.
3. A short staff, a club; a cudgel.
   • Edmund Spenser (c.1552–1599)

     With his truncheon he so rudely struck.

   • 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.

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, l.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.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Gardner to this entry?)

6. (euphemistic) A penis.
   • 1749, [John Cleland], Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: Printed [by Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], OCLC 731622352:

     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

• bludgeon

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

1. (transitive) To strike with a truncheon.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)