truncheon

[truhn-chuh n] /ˈtrʌn tʃən/
noun
1.
the club carried by a police officer; billy.
2.
a staff representing an office or authority; baton.
3.
the shattered shaft of a spear.
4.
Obsolete. cudgel; bludgeon.
verb (used with object)
5.
Archaic. to beat with a club.
Origin
1300-50; Middle English tronchon fragment < Middle French < Vulgar Latin *trunciōn-, stem of *trunciō literally, a lopping. See trunk, -ion
Examples from the web for truncheon
  • Every one of them carried in his hand a thick truncheon of elm.
British Dictionary definitions for truncheon

truncheon

/ˈtrʌntʃən/
noun
1.
(mainly Brit) a short thick club or cudgel carried by a policeman
2.
a baton of office: a marshal's truncheon
3.
(archaic) a short club or cudgel
4.
the shaft of a spear
verb
5.
(transitive) to beat with a truncheon
Word Origin
C16: from Old French tronchon stump, from Latin truncus trunk; see truncate
Word Origin and History for truncheon
n.

c.1300, "shaft of a spear," also "short stick, cudgel," from Old North French tronchon, Old French tronchon (11c.) "a piece cut off, thick stick, stump," from Vulgar Latin *truncionem (nominative *truncio), from Latin truncus (see trunk). Meaning "staff as a symbol of office" is recorded from 1575; sense of "policeman's club" is recorded from 1880.