different between shillelagh vs truncheon

English

Etymology

Either from Shillelagh, County Wicklow, in Ireland (from Irish Síol (“descendants”) + Éalaigh (a name)), because the forest near it provided the wood from which such clubs were made; or from sail (“cudgel”) + éille (“thong”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /???le?li/
• Rhymes: -e?li
• Hyphenation: shil?le?lagh

Noun

shillelagh (plural shillelaghs)

1. (Ireland) A wooden (traditionally blackthorn (sloe) wood) club ending with a large knob.
2. Any cudgel, whether or not of Irish origin.

Alternative forms

• shillala, shillalah, shillelah
• shillalagh
• shillaly, shillely

See also

• blackthorn

References

• Shillelah in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Further reading

• shillelagh (weapon) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

English

Etymology

From Middle English tronchoun, from Old French tronchon (“thick stick”), from Late Latin *troncionem, from Latin truncus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?t??nt??n/
• Rhymes: -?nt??n

Noun

truncheon (plural truncheons)

1. (obsolete) A fragment or piece broken off from something, especially a broken-off piece of a spear or lance.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.3:

     Therewith asunder in the midst it brast, / And in his hand nought but the troncheon left […].

2. (obsolete) The shaft of a spear.
3. A short staff, a club; a cudgel.
4. A baton, or military staff of command, now especially the stick carried by a police officer.
   • 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act II, Scene II, l.60:

     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.

5. (obsolete) A stout stem, as of a tree, with the branches lopped off, to produce rapid growth.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Gardner to this entry?)

6. (euphemistic) A penis.

Translations

See also

• bludgeon

Verb

truncheon (third-person singular simple present truncheons, present participle truncheoning, simple past and past participle truncheoned)

1. (transitive) To strike with a truncheon.

Translations