Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A short stick carried by police; a billy club.
  • noun A staff carried as a symbol of office or authority; a baton.
  • noun A thick cutting from a plant, as for grafting.
  • noun Obsolete A heavy club; a cudgel.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To beat or belabor with a truncheon or club; cudgel.
  • noun A trunk, stock, or stump, as of a tree; hence, a tree the branches of which have been lopped off to produce rapid growth.
  • noun The shaft of a spear or lance.
  • noun A short staff; a club; a cudgel.
  • noun A baton or staff of authority; specifically, in heraldry, the staff of the earl marshal of England.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To beat with a truncheon.
  • noun A short staff, a club; a cudgel; a shaft of a spear.
  • noun A baton, or military staff of command.
  • noun A stout stem, as of a tree, with the branches lopped off, to produce rapid growth.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete A fragment or piece broken off from something, especially a broken-off piece of a spear or lance.
  • noun obsolete The shaft of a spear.
  • noun A short staff, a club; a cudgel.
  • noun A baton, or military staff of command, now especially the stick carried by a police officer.
  • noun obsolete A stout stem, as of a tree, with the branches lopped off, to produce rapid growth.
  • noun euphemistic penis
  • verb transitive To strike with a truncheon.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a short stout club used primarily by policemen

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English tronchon, piece broken off, club, from Old North French, from Vulgar Latin *trunciō, *trunciōn-, from Latin truncus, trunk; see trunk.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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

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Examples

  • The lead filled truncheon is useful but most of us do not have that.

    Be afraid, be very afraid……. actually, don’t be. « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2008

  • The Freudian truncheon is brandished almost to absurdity when Pyramidhead traps Rose and Cybil in an elevator and begins stabbing his really long blade between the elevator doors, trying to run them through.

    Silent Hill moriarty6 2006

  • More like President Kruger than Prince Albert – that's the best I can do for him; and I see him on a chair, in a black frock-coat, not so very high up either; I can manage a cloud or two for him to sit on; and then his hand trailing in the clouds holds a rod, a truncheon is it?

    Monday or Tuesday 1921

  • He bore in his hand what was called a truncheon, which was a sort of sceptre, very splendidly covered and adorned.

    Richard I Makers of History Jacob Abbott 1841

  • Alexander Konovalov, whose ministry oversees Parfyonchikov's service, said that in some regions court marshals are used as a "truncheon" against citizens, though he did not elaborate.

    The Moscow Times By Alexander Bratersky 2010

  • Alexander Konovalov, whose ministry oversees Parfyonchikov's service, said that in some regions court marshals are used as a "truncheon" against citizens, though he did not elaborate.

    The Moscow Times By Alexander Bratersky 2010

  • According to the Bucks Free Press, the local force, Thames Valley, has itself been relieved of a truncheon, "five blue strobe flashing lights", handcuffs valued at £32.69, and a six-foot tall cardboard officer that was stolen from High Wycombe station.

    Hugh Muir's diary 2012

  • Dave not only catches him - he beats the crap out of him with a truncheon, an act that is caught on tape a la Rodney King.

    Marshall Fine: Movie review: Rampart Marshall Fine 2011

  • Others were said to depict sexual assaults with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube.

    p2pnet World Headlines – May 29, 2009 2009

  • There is no excuse for a masked policemen to use a truncheon to hit in anger a man who is not facing him and has his hands in his pockets.

    Ooooh….. I didn’t know that! « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2009

Comments

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  • Oucheon!

    October 31, 2008

  • Can one be used to truncate a luncheon?

    December 10, 2009

  • Don't try that at home, kids.

    December 10, 2009