mallet

Etymology

From Middle English malet, maylet, from Old French mallet, maillet (“a wooden hammer, mallet”), diminutive of mal, mail (“a hammer”), from Latin malleus (“a hammer, mall, mallet”).

noun

1. A type of hammer with a larger-than-usual head made of wood, rubber or similar non-iron material, used by woodworkers for driving a tool, such as a chisel. A kind of maul.
   Carpenters use mallets for assembling.
   We used a mallet to drive the tent pegs into the ground.
2. (weaponry) A weapon resembling the tool, but typically much larger.
   The Mallet of arms, according to the representation of it given by Father Daniel, exactly resembles the wooden instrument of that name, now in use, except in the length of the handle, it was like the hammer of arms, to be used with both hands, indeed it differed very little from that weapon in its form. 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 51
3. (music) A small hammer-like tool used for playing certain musical instruments.
4. (games) A light beetle with a long handle used in playing croquet.
5. (sports) The stick used to strike the ball in the sport of polo.
   I regularly have cause to recall a scene from a novel called Madder Music, by Peter de Vries, in which the main character, a writer who specialises in polo, hears a match announcer telling newcomers to the ground that, contrary to popular belief, the ball is struck with the side of the mallet, rather than the end. 2016-09-13, Tim Dowling, “Order force: the old grammar rule we all obey without realising”, in The Guardian

verb

1. (transitive) To beat or strike with, or as if with, a mallet.
   […] and when a couple of insurgents ran in to make the capture she malleted them with her rifle. 2007, John Geddes, Highway to Hell, page 220