Cudgel /(k?j"?l)/

Cudg·el

Cudgel

n.
  1. A staff used in cudgel play, shorter than the quarterstaff, and wielded with one hand; hence, any heavy stick used as a weapon.
    He getteth him a grievous crabtree cudgel and . . . falls to rating of them as if they were dogs.

Phrases & Compounds
Cudgel play
a fight or sportive contest with cudgels.
To cross the cudgels
to forbear or give up the contest; -- a phrase borrowed from the practice of cudgel players, who lay one cudgel over another when the contest is ended.
To take up cudgels for
to engage in a contest in behalf of (some one or something).

Cudgel

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Cudgeled; p. pr. & vb. n. Cudgeling

  1. To beat with a cudgel.
    An he here, I would cudgel him like a dog.

Phrases & Compounds
To cudgel one's brains
to exercise one's wits.