baton
UK /ˈbætɒn/ · US /bəˈtɑn/ noun, verb
Forms batons batoning batoned
- noun A staff or truncheon, used for various purposes.
- noun (military) A ceremonial staff of a field marshal or a similar high-ranking military office.
- noun (music) The stick of a conductor in musical performances. “The conductor raised his baton and the orchestra fell silent.”
- noun (sports) An object transferred by runners in a relay race. “In the relay race, the runner dropped the baton.”
- noun (gymnastics, juggling) A rod twirled in a marching band's performance, in a gymnastic sport, or in juggling.
- noun (weaponry, US) A short stout club used primarily by policemen. “The police officer carried a baton for self-defense.”
- noun (heraldry) A bend with the ends cut off, resembling a baton, typically borne sinister, and often used as a mark of cadency, initially for both legitimate and illegitimate children, but later chiefly for illegitimate children.
- noun A short vertical lightweight post, not set into the ground, used to separate wires in a fence.
- verb (transitive) To strike with a baton. “She passed the baton to her successor after retiring.”
Synonyms
billy club nightstick truncheon wand rod bat club billy billystick
Etymology
From French bâton. Doublet of baston.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A staff or truncheon, used for various purposes; as, the baton of a field marshal; the baton of a conductor in musical performances.
- noun An ordinary with its ends cut off, borne sinister as a mark of bastardy, and containing one fourth in breadth of the bend sinister; --called also bastard bar. See Bend sinister.
Etymology [F. b. See Baston.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “baton”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details