truncheon
Other forms: truncheons
A truncheon is a short, thick club, mainly used by police officers. If you find yourself face-to-face with a truncheon, you better behave.
A truncheon is used by a police officer as a less deadly weapon than a gun. Just the sight of a police officer's truncheon is enough to make most people cooperate, but police are trained to use a truncheon to neutralize a violent suspect. Truncheons are also called batons, billy clubs, and nightsticks. The word truncheon comes from the Old French tronchon, "a broken off piece" or "a stump," is based on the Latin word truncus, "cut off."
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a short stout club used primarily by police officerssynonyms: baton, billy, billy club, billystick, nightsticktype of:clubstout stick that is larger at one end
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