▪ I. truncheon, n.
(ˈtrʌnʃən)
Forms: 4 tronsoun, trounsoun, trunsoun, -ioune, Sc. trwnsown, 5 trounson; 4–5 tronchoun, -eoun, -en, 4–7 tronchon, 5–7 troncheon, 6–7 tronchion, (5 trounchen, tronchown, -yn, trenchoune, 6 tronchone, trenshon, 7 trouncheon); Sc. 4–5 trunschoun, 5 trunscyoune, 6 trownsciown, trunscheon, -e; 6–8 trunchion, 6– truncheon, (5–6 trunchoun, -on, -en, -in, -yn, -yne).
[ME. a. OF. trun{cced}un, tronchon, F. tron{cced}on a piece cut or broken off, a stump (11th c. in Godef.), f. late L. type *trunciōn-em, f. L. truncus trunk.]
1. A piece broken or cut off, a fragment. Also fig. Obs. or arch.
| 13.. Seuyn Sag. (W.) 819 Of the adder he fond mani tronsoun. a 1450 Le Morte Arth. 3071 One hytte hym vpon the olde wounde With a tronchon of an ore. 1570 Levins Manip. 164/29 A Trenshon, fragmentum. 1587 L. Mascall Govt. Cattle, Oxen (1627) 18 Small trunchions of coleworts sod in sallet oyle and..brine. 1611 Cotgr., Tron{cced}onneur,..a cutter of things into truncheons or lumpes. 1882 Stevenson New Arab. Nts. II. i. 7 A huge truncheon of wreck half buried in the sands. 1892 ― Across the Plains 240 [They] set before him truncheons of tales upon their lighted theatre. |
b. spec. A fragment of a spear or lance; a piece broken off from a spear. Obs. or arch.
| 13.. Sir Beues (A.) 827 On a tronsoun [v.rr. tronchen, tronchyn, tronchon, trunchyn] of is spere Þat heued a stikede for to bere. 13.. K. Alis. 2149 (Bodl. MS.) Þe spere tobrast on two trunsoun. Ibid. 3740 A gentyl kniȝth..Had on hym many wounde And a trunchoun in his flaunche. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxii. 238 Þei breken here speres so rudely þat the tronchouns fleu in sprotes and peces all aboute the halle. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. xxii. 69 He smote Gryflet..and brake the spere that the troncheon stack in his body. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. iii. 12 Therewith asunder in the midst it brast, And in his hand nought but the troncheon left. 1697 Dryden æneid xi. 16 His brazen buckler on the left was seen: Truncheons of shiver'd lances hung between. 1825 Scott Talism. xxviii, Sir Kenneth's lance..had wounded him deep in the bosom,..leaving the truncheon of the lance fixed in his wound. |
c. The shaft of a spear. Obs. or arch.
| 13.. K. Alis. 2154 Alisaundre..him mette with speris egge; Through brunny and scheld, to the akedoun, He to⁓barst atwo his tronchon. 13.. Guy Warw. (A.) 3093 Þurch þe bodi he bar a trounsoun. 1600 Holland Livy xxxv. v. 891 Their captaines..laying about with their truncheons [L. hastile] upon the backs of them that so trembled for feare,..forced them againe into their ranks. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. i. xix, A fancied moss-trooper, the boy The truncheon of a spear bestrode. |
2. A short thick staff; a club, a cudgel. Obs. or arch. exc. as in 3.
| 13.. Sir Beues (A.) 1428 At þe prisoun dore Beues fond A tronsoun, þat he tok in is hond. 14.. Stockh. Med. MS. ii. 709 in Anglia XVIII. 324 He beryth his seede, Lik a trwnsown or a pestell. c 1500 Lancelot 2890 O gret trownsciown In til his hond. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. x. 52 Thy legge a sticke compared with this Truncheon. c 1618 Moryson Itin. iv. (1903) 449 A Castle of wood..which the Senatours Armed with tronchions did asault and take. 1682 N. O. tr. Boileau's Lutrin iii. 113 A Truncheon strong Confirms his staggering steps. 1725 Pope Odyss. xi. 707 Stern beasts in trains that by his truncheon fell. 1756 Mrs. Delany in Life & Corr. (1861) III. 451 You walk with your stick as with a truncheon, whilst we poor invalids make use of ours as a walking-staff. |
3. A staff carried as a symbol of office, command, or authority; a marshal's baton; most freq. in modern usage, a short staff or club with which a police constable is armed.
| 1573 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 203 A Trunchin for the dictator. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. ii. 61 Not the Kings Crowne; nor the deputed sword, The Marshalls Truncheon, nor the Iudges Robe Become them with one halfe so good a grace As mercie does. 1728 Morgan Algiers I. iii. 43 An express Embassy, attended with an Ivory Truncheon and a Triumphal Robe. 1843 Lytton Last Bar. vii. iii, You are come..to take the command of the troops.., and into your hands, I resign this truncheon. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiv. III. 412 For his religion [Schomberg] had resigned a splendid income, had laid down the truncheon of a Marshal of France. 1880 M{supc}Carthy Own Times IV. li. 82 Stones were thrown on the one side and truncheons used on the other. |
† b. fig. Cf. trunk n. 1 b, quot. 1586. Obs.
| 1601 ? Marston Pasquil & Kath. iv. 115 For such a one to yoke her free sweet youth Vnto a Lowne,..A gilden Trunchion, fie! 'tis slauish vile. |
4. † a. The stem or stock of a tree. Obs. rare.
| c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. vi. (Rolls) 28 Tho bowis grewen out of stockis or tronchons, and the tronchons or schaftis grewen out of the roote. |
b. A length cut from a plant, esp. one used for grafting or planting; a stout cutting. Now rare.
| 1572 L. Mascall Plant. & Graff. (1592) 17 An other way to set Mulberies.., cut..great Mulberie bowes or stockes, asunder in y⊇ bodie (with a saw) in troncheons a foot long or more,..make a..furrow in good earth well and deepe, so that ye may couer..your troncheons. 1664 Evelyn Sylva i. xviii. (1729) 86 [Alders] are propagated of Trunchions..the Trunchions being set as big as the Small of one's Leg. 1725 Bradley's Fam. Dict. s.v. Lime tree, The Truncheons make far better Coal for Gun-Powder, than that of Alder it self. Ibid. s.v. Sallow, When you Graft Sallow, take a Truncheon as big as your Wrist, of two Foot and an half long. 1855 Singleton Virgil I. 127 Neither wild truncheons on the olive graft. |
† 5. An intestinal worm, short and thick in form, parasitic in horses. Obs.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 504/1 Trunchon, wyrme, lumbricus. 1530 Palsgr. 283/2 Trunchon a worme. 1565 Blundevil Horsemanship iv. xcvi. (1580) 43 In a Horses guts do breede three kinds of wormes:..The third be short and thicke, like the end of a mans little finger, and therefore be called Troncheons. c 1720 W. Gibson Farrier's Guide ii. xxxix. (1738) 142 Several Kinds of Vermin bred in the bodies of Horses, which go under the Denomination of Bots, Worms and Trunchions. 1748 tr. Vegetius' Distempers Horses 84 Another Drench for Worms, Botts and Truncheons. |
† 6. ‘The solid part of a horse's tail, towards the croup’ (Littré s.v. Tron{cced}on). Obs. rare—1.
| 1639 T. de la Grey Compl. Horsem. 24 The hams dry, and streight, the trunchion small, long, well set on, and well couched. |
¶ 7. Erroneously used for truncheour, trencher1 2 or 3. Obs.
| 1548 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. IX. 167 For serving of his gracis tabill upoun tuelf sylver trunscheones. 1739 ‘R. Bull’ tr. Dedekindus' Grobianus 131 Trojans their Tables ate, eat thou thy Truncheon. |
8. attrib. and Comb., as truncheon-bearer, truncheon-fashion, truncheon officer, truncheon-sceptre; truncheon-snake (see quot.); truncheon-wise adv., in the manner or form of a truncheon.
| 1896 Westm. Gaz. 18 Feb. 5/2 Yesterday was a busy..day for *truncheon-bearers all over London. 1912 S. R. Driver in Expositor Jan. 35 Out of Machir came down truncheon⁓bearers. |
| 1750 R. Pococke Trav. (1888) 71 A sceptre..in the *truncheon fashion, having a round head guarded with points. |
| 1708 Mem. Right Villanous John Hall 11 Out jump Four *Trunchion Officers. |
| 1814 Sporting Mag. XLIV. 147 Brandishing his *truncheon-sceptre. |
| 1736 Mortimer in Phil. Trans. XXXIX. 254 Vipera fusca: The brown Viper in Virginia: In Carolina it is called the *Truncheon-Snake. |
| 1572 L. Mascall Plant. & Graff. (1592) 43 Certaine..trees..which in cutting the great branches therof *truncheon wise, doe renew againe. |
Hence ˈtruncheoner, ˈtruncheonist (nonce-wds.), one who bears a truncheon.
| 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, v. iv. 54, I..hit that Woman, who cryed out Clubbes, when I might see from farre, some forty Truncheoners [Wks. (ed. Johnson, 1765) truncheoneers] draw to her succour. 1854 Tait's Mag. XXI. 372 Circumscribed..by 184 B and his co-truncheonists. |
▪ II. † truncheon, a. Obs. rare—1.
[? attrib. use of truncheon n.]
= trunch a.
| 1611 Cotgr., Retroussé, thicke and short, druggellie, trunchion. |
▪ III. ˈtruncheon, v.
Forms: see truncheon n.
[a. F. tron{cced}onner (12th c. in Godef.), f. tron{cced}on, truncheon n.]
† 1. trans. To reduce to ‘truncheons’ or fragments; to break in pieces; to shatter. Also fig.
| c 1477 Caxton Jason 16 Thus began the bataylle..with speris that sone were tronchoned. Ibid. 35 b, She fill doune..alle thurghe smyten and tronchoned with amerouse sorowe. c 1500 Melusine xxxvi. 286 The Saudan valyauntly smote geffray, & tronchoned hys spere vpon his shild. |
† b. spec. To carve (an eel): the proper term for this. Cf. tranch v. Obs.
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans F vij b, An Ele trounsoned. 1787 Best Angling (ed. 2) 169 Trounchen an eel, cut him up. 1853 Badham Halieut. 343 He gobbets trout, truncheons eel, fins chub, tusks barbel [etc.]. |
2. To beat with a truncheon, to baton.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 154 If captaines were of my minde, they would trunchion you out, for taking their names vpon you. 1839 Morn. Herald 20 July, They are occasionally truncheoned by the police. |
Hence ˈtruncheoning vbl. n.
| c 1477 Caxton Jason 15 b, Whan hit cam to the tronchoning of their speris. |