billy club

noun

: a heavy usually wooden club

specifically : a police officer's club

Synonyms

• bastinado
• bastinade
• bat
• baton
• billy
• bludgeon
• cane
• club
• cudgel
• nightstick
• rod
• rung [Scottish]
• sap
• shillelagh
• shillalah
• staff
• truncheon
• waddy [Australian]

Examples of billy club in a Sentence

rapping the shoes of the sleeping vagrant with his billy club, the officer told him to move on

Recent Examples on the Web

These include air rifles, paintball guns, combat gloves, billy clubs, swords, axes, slingshots, metal water bottles, aerosol cans, ladders, BB guns, pellet guns, nunchucks, shovels or other things that could be used to hurt people or damage property. —Tamia Fowlkes, Journal Sentinel, 10 July 2024

The officers’ superior should give an order that if this happens again, use their billy clubs — start swinging and don’t stop until the screaming stops. —Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 2 Feb. 2024

Then, police officers attacked protesters with billy clubs, dragging them out of Grant Park in a show of bloody force. —Mitch Smith, New York Times, 8 May 2024

Have some form of self-protection such as mace, pepper spray, a taser, a crowbar, a billy club, a small baseball bat or a metal flashlight. —Saleen Martin, USA TODAY, 23 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

billy entry 2

First Known Use

1885, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

billy club

noun

: a heavy wooden club

especially : nightstick