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Bludgeon - it has two different, but connected meanings:

1) As a noun - it's a thick stick with a heavy end, used as a weapon
2) As a verb - to beat someone, repeatedly

I suppose you could bludgeon someone, using a bludgeon. :rolleye:

Can I borrow your bludgeon? I've never heard this word used as a noun before, hmm.

There's something about this word that is so beyond descriptive, to me. If I'm reading an article about someone who has been murdered, and the author uses the word ''bludgeoned,'' it literally causes me to recoil, knowing that the victim's final moments were horrific.
 
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wegs said:
Bludgeon - it has two different, but connected meanings:

1) As a noun - it's a thick stick with a heavy end, used as a weapon
2) As a verb - to beat repeatedly

I suppose you could bludgeon someone, using a bludgeon. :rolleye:

Can I borrow your bludgeon? I've never heard this word used as a noun before, hmm.

There's something about this word that is so beyond descriptive, to me. If I'm reading an article about someone who has been murdered, and the author uses the word ''bludgeoned,'' it literally causes me to recoil, knowing that the victim's final moments were horrific.
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Yes I have heard the noun.I also think you can bludgeon someone emotionally

I wonder if it was originally a weapon of war or if it was just a tool of the criminal (or desperately defending themselves) classes?

I think the medieval soldier used to carry something like a bludgeon but it had nails sticking out of it.
(think I would prefer to be bludgeoned :biggrin: )
 
wegs said:
Bludgeon - it has two different, but connected meanings:

1) As a noun - it's a thick stick with a heavy end, used as a weapon
2) As a verb - to beat someone, repeatedly

I suppose you could bludgeon someone, using a bludgeon. :rolleye:

Can I borrow your bludgeon? I've never heard this word used as a noun before, hmm.

There's something about this word that is so beyond descriptive, to me. If I'm reading an article about someone who has been murdered, and the author uses the word ''bludgeoned,'' it literally causes me to recoil, knowing that the victim's final moments were horrific.
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Oh yes, bludgeon is quite a common word in British English. It means to beat very severely, often to death, with some crude instrument, but it can also be used figuratively e.g. of someone's style in argument.
 
exchemist said:
Oh yes, bludgeon is quite a common word in British English. It means to beat very severely, often to death, with some crude instrument, but it can also be used figuratively e.g. of someone's style in argument.
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So, it sounds like how we use it here in the states, to refer to brutal murders.

It can used figuratively as well, hmm...

Let's use it in a sentence...

I'd dare say that on any given week here at Sci-Forums, certain members can be seen bludgeoning dead horses. :wink:
 
geordief said:
I wonder if it was originally a weapon of war or if it was just a tool of the criminal (or desperately defending themselves) classes?
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The bludgeon as a weapon of war I think is more commonly called the mace, I think. I'm not sure if they're basically synonymous or not, or whether there is some distinction. It may be that the bludgeon is the more generic, and the mace is the more refined / designed, purpose built for war etc. But I'd just be guessing.
The tool of the criminal was more often than not the cudgel (short thick stick) or the blackjack (which was a flexible rod - rubber etc - quieter, to knock people out).
I think the medieval soldier used to carry something like a bludgeon but it had nails sticking out of it.
(think I would prefer to be bludgeoned :biggrin: )
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That would probably be the Morning Star (a mace with spikes). Nasty thing.
 
exchemist said:
No, being an Anglo-French couple, we ploughed. :p
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Not "pluffed"?? ;)

Ah, the joy of English: 9 different pronunciations of -ough- in English...

Borough - Burr-uh
Enough - En-uff
Cough - C-off
Hiccough - Hicc-up
Lough - L-ock
Through - Thr-oo
Thought - Th-aw-t
Though - Th-owe
Plough - Pl-ow
 
Sarkus said:
The bludgeon as a weapon of war I think is more commonly called the mace, I think. I'm not sure if they're basically synonymous or not, or whether there is some distinction. It may be that the bludgeon is the more generic, and the mace is the more refined / designed, purpose built for war etc. But I'd just be guessing.
The tool of the criminal was more often than not the cudgel (short thick stick) or the blackjack (which was a flexible rod - rubber etc - quieter, to knock people out).
That would probably be the Morning Star (a mace with spikes). Nasty thing.
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That reminds me of when I worked irregularly at the Boston Sheraton.Having outstayed my visa my boss took advantage and withheld my pay.When I objected he suggested the other man in the room had a length of hosepipe and I might find myself in the river if I kicked up any more of a fuss(I gave up on my money)

Yes ,cudgel is what I was likely thinking of but never heard of the blackjack till now.
 
wegs said:
Bludgeon - it has two different, but connected meanings:

1) As a noun - it's a thick stick with a heavy end, used as a weapon
2) As a verb - to beat someone, repeatedly

I suppose you could bludgeon someone, using a bludgeon. :rolleye:

Can I borrow your bludgeon? I've never heard this word used as a noun before, hmm.

There's something about this word that is so beyond descriptive, to me. If I'm reading an article about someone who has been murdered, and the author uses the word ''bludgeoned,'' it literally causes me to recoil, knowing that the victim's final moments were horrific.
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How would you be being cleaved?

Cleave can be cling close to
OR
Split apart

The person was cleaved to the attacker as the attacker was trying to cleave him apart with a cleaver

shudder

:)
 
Sarkus said:
The bludgeon as a weapon of war I think is more commonly called the mace, I think. I'm not sure if they're basically synonymous or not, or whether there is some distinction.
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I think of somebody being bludgeoned to death by a weapon of opportunity, like a candlestick or a fireplace poker, like on the old Perry Mason TV show.
 
Since Halloween is fast approaching, I'm thinking of words that typically sprout up, only around this time of year.

Goblin is an interesting word; (according to wikipedia) it originally came from the Greek word "Kobalos," which translates into English as "Rogue" or "Evil Spirit." As time went on, goblins took on a lighter tone, and they're not so much considered as ''evil,'' as they are mischievous. They have insatiable appetites, and love dining on raw meat, especially live animals.

Ghoul originates from the Arabic غُول ghūl, from غَالَ ghāla, "to seize". In Arabic, the term is also sometimes used to describe a greedy or gluttonous individual.

Folklore is fun.



 
wegs said:
Since Halloween is fast approaching, I'm thinking of words that typically sprout up, only around this time of year.

Goblin is an interesting word; (according to wikipedia) it originally came from the Greek word "Kobalos," which translates into English as "Rogue" or "Evil Spirit." As time went on, goblins took on a lighter tone, and they're not so much considered as ''evil,'' as they are mischievous. They have insatiable appetites, and love dining on raw meat, especially live animals.

Ghoul originates from the Arabic غُول ghūl, from غَالَ ghāla, "to seize". In Arabic, the term is also sometimes used to describe a greedy or gluttonous individual.

Folklore is fun.


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How interesting that that word is from Arabic. There are a few in English: cypher and azure spring to mind but there must be lots more. I expect you would know more about that than I do.
 
exchemist said:
How interesting that that word is from Arabic. There are a few in English: cypher and azure spring to mind but there must be lots more. I expect you would know more about that than I do.
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Hundreds of words, I'd have thought, with the one that sticks in my mind being assassin, coming from the Arabic hashish - yes, cannabis. Whodathunkit! :)
 
wegs said:
Since Halloween is fast approaching, I'm thinking of words that typically sprout up, only around this time of year.

Goblin...

Ghoul...
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Meh. My D&D-playing friends and I have been fighting ghouls, goblins, kobolds, hobgoblins, ogres, wights, wraiths, etc for years!! ;)
 
I learned , from being taught Chaucer in school that a "wight" was just an old English word for a "man" but I see it took on a few other meanings in the meantime .
 
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