quarterstaff
US/ˈkwɔɹtəɹˌstæf/
quarterstaff noun: a wooden staff with an approximate length between 2 and 2.5 meters, sometimes tipped with iron, used as a weapon in rural England during the Early Modern period.
Noun
quarterstaff (plural quarterstaffs or quarterstaves)
- A wooden staff with an approximate length between 2 and 2.5 meters, sometimes tipped with iron, used as a weapon in rural England during the Early Modern period.
- Name my accuſer ſaith he, or I defye thee Kemp at the quart ſtaffe.1600, William Kempe, Kemps nine daies vvonder
- [F]ew country people there are who do not love to see two sturdy fellows thwack and belabour each other with quarter-staff, single-stick, or fists.1881, Walter Besant, James Rice, “How Kitty First Saw the Doctor”, in The Chaplain of the Fleet […], volume I, London: Chatto and Windus, […], →OCLC, part I (Within the Rules), page 82
- Fighting or exercise with a wooden staff of this sort.
- He was very adept at quarterstaff.
- First, several couples stood forth at quarterstaff, and so shrewd were they at the game, and so quickly did they give stroke and parry, that […]1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC
quarterstaff meaning in Urdu
quarterstaff in Urdu
- ڈنڈا, لاٹھی, لٹھ, سونٹی
Synonyms of quarterstaff
Forms of quarterstaff
| plural | quarterstaffs |
|---|---|
| plural | quarterstaves |
| alternative form | quarter-staff |
| alternative form | quarter staff |
| alternative form | quarter-stave |
| alternative form | quarterstave |
Origin of quarterstaff
From quarter + staff, attested since about 1550. Probably originally referred to a staff cut from the heartwood of a certain size of tree which was cleft into four parts, per the OED.
Questions about quarterstaff
- What does quarterstaff mean?
- Quarterstaff means a wooden staff with an approximate length between 2 and 2.5 meters, sometimes tipped with iron, used as a weapon in rural England during the Early Modern period.
- What is quarterstaff in Urdu?
- Quarterstaff in Urdu is ڈنڈا, لاٹھی, لٹھ. See Quarterstaff meaning in Urdu.
- What part of speech is quarterstaff?
- Quarterstaff is a noun.
- How do you pronounce quarterstaff?
- Quarterstaff is pronounced /ˈkwɔɹtəɹˌstæf/ (US).
- What is the plural of quarterstaff?
- The plural of quarterstaff is quarterstaffs.
Words near quarterstaff in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: quarterstaff (page history and authors); quarterstaff (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “quarterstaff.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/quarterstaff. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.