▪ I. bludgeon, n.
(ˈblʌdʒən)
[Not found before the 18th c.: origin unknown.
Blogon (with g = j) is quoted by Dr. Whitley Stokes from the Cornish drama Origo Mundi (? 14th c.), but its relation to the English is uncertain. Other Celtic etymologies sometimes proposed are on many grounds untenable. A Du. vb. bludsen to bruise, has also been compared; and it has been suggested that the word is of cant origin, connected with blood.]
A short stout stick or club, with one end loaded or thicker and heavier than the other, used as a weapon.
| 1730 Bailey, Bludgeon, an oaken stick or club. 1755 Gentl. Mag. XXV. 135 These villains..knocked him down with a bludgeon. 1798 in Ld. Auckland's Corr. (1862) III. 413 They were attacked by nine men..armed with swords and short bludgeons. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. (1873) 59 Scarce any weapons but staves and bludgeons had been yet seen among them. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. 103 Called by the annalists the parliament of bats or bludgeons. |
b. Comb. bludgeon-man, one armed with a bludgeon; bludgeon-work, fighting with bludgeons, hand-to-hand fighting.
| 1797 W. Taylor in Month. Rev. XXII. 528 Assisted by the bludgeon-men of some powerful faction. 1813 Wellington Let. 5 Aug. in Gurw. Disp. X. 602 The battle of the 28th was fair bludgeon work. |
▪ II. ˈbludgeon, v.
[f. prec. n.]
a. trans. To strike or fell with a bludgeon or similar weapon.
| 1868 Doran Saints & Sin. I. 295 Such a preacher..would be bludgeoned into a mummy. 1884 Pall Mall G. 15 Oct. 3/1 To bludgeon an opponent who has a sharp tongue. |
b. fig. To strike heavily, as with a bludgeon. Const. in: to drive in as with a bludgeon. Hence ˈbludgeoning vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1888 W. E. Henley Bk. of Verses 56 Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. 1892 Stevenson & Osbourne Wrecker xviii. 273 Repentance bludgeoned me. 1894 Athenæum 14 July 55/1 It is not..the artful bludgeoning that gets the praise. 1906 R. Whiteing Ring in New 238 The militant knifing and bludgeoning men. 1928 E. Blom Limit. Music 37 A truth that has no need of literal bludgeoning-in. |