Word.ws English Dictionary

took up the cudgels

took up the cudgels is the simple past of take up the cudgels.

Meaning of take up the cudgels

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.

Questions about took up the cudgels

What is took up the cudgels the simple past of?
Took up the cudgels is the simple past of take up the cudgels.

Words near took up the cudgels in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: took up the cudgels (page history and authors); 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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