Crossword clues for quarterstaff
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Quarterstaff \Quar"ter*staff`\, n.; pl. Quarterstaves. A long and stout staff formerly used as a weapon of defense and offense; -- so called because in holding it one hand was placed in the middle, and the other between the middle and the end.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
also quarter-staff, 1540s (quarter-stroke "stroke with a quarterstaff" is attested from early 15c.), stout pole, six to eight feet long (six-and-a-half sometimes is given as the standard length), tipped with iron, formerly a weapon used by the English peasantry. From staff (n.); the quarter is of uncertain signification. According to one theory, favored by fencing manuals, etc., it likely is in reference to operation of the weapon:\n\nIt was grasped by one hand in the middle, and by the other between the middle and the end. In the attack the latter hand shifted from one quarter of the staff to the other, giving the weapon a rapid circular motion, which brought the ends on the adversary at unexpected points.
[Century Dictionary]
\nLinguists tend to prefer an explanation from woodcutting, perhaps a reference to a cut of lumber known as a quarter, but contemporary evidence is wanting for either conjecture.Wiktionary
alt. 1 A wooden staff of an approximate length between 2 and 2.5 meters, sometimes tipped with iron, used as a weapon in rural England during the Early Modern period. 2 Fighting or exercise with the quarterstaff. n. 1 A wooden staff of an approximate length between 2 and 2.5 meters, sometimes tipped with iron, used as a weapon in rural England during the Early Modern period. 2 Fighting or exercise with the quarterstaff.
WordNet
n. a long stout staff used as a weapon
[also: quarterstaves (pl)]
Wikipedia
A quarterstaff (plural quarterstaffs or quarterstaves), also short staff or simply staff is a traditional European pole weapon and a technique of stick fighting, which was especially prominent in England during the Early Modern period.
The term is generally accepted to refer to a shaft of hardwood from long, sometimes with a metal tip, ferrule, or spike at one or both ends. The term "short staff" compares this to the "long staff" based on the pike with a length in excess of .
Usage examples of "quarterstaff".
The artillerymen were as nervous as Brooker, their bundled rockets looking like quarterstaffs at a country fair.
The Watchmen hesitated, eyeing Rand, then shouldered their quarterstaffs and followed the white-cloaked three.
Ser Hyle on a chestnut courser and Brienne on her tall grey mare, Podrick Payne astride his swayback stot, and Septon Meribald walking beside them with his quarterstaff, leading a small donkey and a large dog.
Cashel lunged toward Metra, his quarterstaff outstretched like a battering ram.
The knowledge of singlestick and quarterstaff still lingered, in the country parts of England.
There are hundreds of them: smooth black Fred Astaire canes and rough chewed alpenstocks, blackthorns and quarterstaffs, cudgels and swagger sticks, bamboo and ironwood, maple and slippery elm, canes from Tangier, Maine, Zurich, Panama City, Quebec, Togoland, the Dakotas and Borneo, resting in notched compartments that resemble arms racks in an armory.
In unison, the twenty Knights flipped their quarterstaffs level and drove them into the oncoming monks like spears.
The iron ferrules of the heavy quarterstaffs crushed into their unguarded chests and bellies.
Both lines locked their quarterstaffs, forming a barricade across the street.
It was some three times as wide as he was tall, about the right width to give him free play with the quarterstaff but not let the sailors get around him to the sides.
All she could hear was Penari, alternately shouting insults at Rugen, encouragement to her, and counting to himself as he went through the steps of a quarterstaff drill in gleeful preparation for mayhem.
Then he strolled to the platform where they were at cudgel play, for he loved a bout at quarterstaff as he loved meat and drink.
Cashel said, checking first one, then the other end cap of the quarterstaff.
As Veg staggered out, dripping, and Aquilon assisted him, it unkinked its neck and reached down to peck exploratively at the forgotten quarterstaff.
Cashel started to spin his quarterstaff slowly before him, waiting for the moment one of the gang milling in front of the temple would get up the courage to rush him.