knobstick
(ˈnɒbstɪk)
1. A stick, cane, or club, having a rounded knob for its head; a knobbed stick.
| 1824 [see b]. 1867 Crim. Chronol. York Castle 190 Beating him over the head with knobsticks. 1887 Jessopp Arcady vii. 192 With the knob sticks of the mob. |
b. Such a stick used as a weapon; a knobkerrie.
| 1824 W. J. Burchell Trav. S. Afr. I. 354 A keeri..(a short knobstick) in his hand. 1859 Burton Centr. Afr. in Jrnl. Geog. Soc. XXIX. 266 Terrifying the enemy with maniacal gestures, while stones and knobsticks fly through the air. 1894 B. Mitford Curse Clement Waynflete vii. 241 The warrior's heavy knobstick, hurled with deadly precision. |
2. A name given, by workmen, to one who during a strike or lock-out continues to work on the master's terms; a black-leg. (See also quot. 1892.) Also attrib.
| 1826 Examiner 663/2 Skirmishes..between the turn-outs and those whom they call ‘knobsticks’. 1826 Ann. Reg. 151/2 One man, a weaver, was accused of being ‘a knobstick spinner’. 1848 Mrs. Gaskell Mary Barton xvi, Taken up last week for throwing vitriol in a knob-stick's face. 1892 Labour Commission Gloss., A knobstick is one who takes the work of an operative on strike, or refuses to go out on strike along with his fellow-workmen... Workmen..who are not members of a trade union are frequently called knobsticks by the unionist workmen. The term is also applied to men who work at a trade to which they served no apprenticeship. |
b. A master who employs men on terms not recognized by a trade-union.
| 1851–61 Mayhew Lond. Labour III. 220 (Hoppe), I next went to work at a under-priced hatter's termed a ‘knob⁓stick's’. |