truncheon

Etymology

From Middle English tronchoun, from Old French tronchon (“thick stick”), from Late Latin *troncionem, from Latin truncus.

noun

1. A short staff, a club; a cudgel.
   One is a large ball of iron, fastened with three chains to a strong truncheon or staff of about two feet long; the other is of mixed metal, in the form of a channelled melon, fastened also to a staff by a triple chain; these balls weigh eight pounds. 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 52
2. A baton, or military staff of command, now especially the stick carried by a police officer.
3. (obsolete) A fragment or piece broken off from something, especially a broken-off piece of a spear or lance.
4. (obsolete) The shaft of a spear.
5. (obsolete) A stout stem, as of a tree, with the branches lopped off, to produce rapid growth.
6. (euphemistic) A penis.

verb

1. (transitive) To strike with a truncheon.