: a short heavy club
… grasped more firmly a stout oaken cudgel …—
Jane G. Austin
Jane G. Austin
cudgeled or cudgelled; cudgeling or cudgelling
ˈkəj-liŋ,
ˈkə-jə-
: to beat with or as if with a cudgel
see also cudgel one's brains
Examples of cudgel in a Sentence
Noun
a farmer armed with a cudgel drove us off his land
Recent Examples on the Web
New Atlas, 28 Dec. 2025
While Kelso used a happy cudgel to elicit a laugh, Kelley employed a scalpel.
—Michael Barnes, Austin American Statesman, 25 Dec. 2025
Timothy Ryback, TIME, 26 Apr. 2024
Before long, fairs had such attractions as cudgelling bouts, bearbaiting, and something called gouging.
—Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 14 Aug. 2023
See All Example Sentences for cudgel
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
One of China's most popular novels, Journey to the West, features it as where the Monkey King Sun Wukong found his golden cudgel.
—New Atlas, 28 Dec. 2025
While Kelso used a happy cudgel to elicit a laugh, Kelley employed a scalpel.
—Michael Barnes, Austin American Statesman, 25 Dec. 2025
Verb
Hitler exploited his 37% to gridlock legislative processes, to cudgel or crush the political opposition, and ultimately to undermine the country’s democratic structures.
—Timothy Ryback, TIME, 26 Apr. 2024
Before long, fairs had such attractions as cudgelling bouts, bearbaiting, and something called gouging.
—Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 14 Aug. 2023
See All Example Sentences for cudgel
Cite this Entry
“Cudgel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cudgel. Accessed 6 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
cudgel
1 of 2 noun
cud·gel
ˈkəj-əl
: a short heavy club
cudgel
2 of 2 verb
cudgeled or cudgelled; cudgeling or cudgelling
-(ə-)liŋ
: to beat with or as if with a cudgel
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share