truncheons

Noun

truncheon (plural truncheons)

1. A short staff, a club; a cudgel.
   • with his troncheon he so rudely stroke / Cymochles twise1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 39
2. A baton, or military staff of command, now especially the stick carried by a police officer.
   • Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword / The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe / Become them with one half so good a grace / As mercy does.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

   Synonyms:

   nightstick, baton

3. (obsolete) A fragment or piece broken off from something, especially a broken-off piece of a spear or lance.
   • Therewith asunder in the midst it brast, / And in his hand nought but the troncheon left[…].1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
4. (obsolete) The shaft of a spear.
5. (obsolete) A stout stem, as of a tree, with the branches lopped off, to produce rapid growth.
   • Truncheons of seven or eight feet long, thrust two feet into the earth […] when once rooted, may be cut at six inches above ground1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal...
6. (euphemistic) A penis.
   • Then, being on his knees between my legs, he drew up his shirt and bared all his hairy thighs, and stiff staring truncheon, red-topt and rooted into a thicket of curls1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC

See all 7 meanings of truncheon