Word.ws English Dictionary

take up the cudgels

take up the cudgels verb: to engage in a contest.

Verb

take up the cudgels (third-person singular simple present takes up the cudgels, present participle taking up the cudgels, simple past took up the cudgels, past participle taken up the cudgels)

  1. To engage in a contest.
  2. (idiomatic) to make a defence for someone or something; to intercede supportively.

Forms of take up the cudgels

third-person singular presenttakes up the cudgels
present participletaking up the cudgels
pasttook up the cudgels
past participletaken up the cudgels

Words formed from take up the cudgels

  • take up the cudgels for

Questions about take up the cudgels

What does take up the cudgels mean?
Take up the cudgels means to engage in a contest.
What part of speech is take up the cudgels?
Take up the cudgels is a verb.
What is the past tense of take up the cudgels?
The past tense of take up the cudgels is took up the cudgels.

Words near take up the cudgels in the dictionary

  1. take up arms
  2. take up cudgels
  3. take up for
  4. take up residence
  5. take up the cudgel for
  6. take up the cudgels
  7. take up the gantlet
  8. take up the gauntlet
  9. take up the glove
  10. take up the hatchet
  11. take up the mantle

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: take up the cudgels (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.

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