Cudgel

Definition and stakes

Portrait of Washington Irving Washington Irving,  The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon

“ Instead of strutting about as formerly with his three-cornered hat on one side, flourishing his cudgel, and bringing it down every moment with a hearty thump upon the ground, looking every one sturdily in the face, and trolling out a stave of a catch or a drinking-song, he now goes about whistling thoughtfully to himself, with his head drooping down, his cudgel tucked under his arm, and his hands thrust to the bottom of his breeches pockets, which are evidently empty. ”
Source: Gutenberg

Various,  Robert Merry's Museum, Vol. VII, No… (1842)

“ I grasped my cudgel, but my arm was paralyzed.
Thus I lay for several moments, while the spectre wheeled round and round, at every evolution, stooping lower and lower, as he came near the place where I lay. At last he paused in his flight, and hovered over the foot of my bed. I could distinctly feel his claws upon my feet, as well as the fanning of his wings, which were kept constantly in motion. The sensation restored my reason and my strength. I partially arose in my bed, and struck a furious blow with my cane at the monster. It took effect, and it fell lifeless to the floor.
”
Source: Gutenberg

St. George Rathborne,  My Hildegarde

“ Acting under an impulse, [Pg 180] I groped around until I found the rough cudgel which I had wrenched loose from my beautiful rustic cot—perchance a foolish freak might tempt the curmudgeon to thrust his shocking head through the inviting hole I had made in his old door, and if I could manage to drop that bit of cypress with more or less emphasis upon his caput, it would be well. ”
Source: Gutenberg

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