mace

Meaning

Noun

1. A heavy fighting club.
2. A ceremonial form of this weapon.
3. A long baton used by some drum majors to keep time and lead a marching band. If this baton is referred to as a mace, by convention it has a ceremonial often decorative head, which, if of metal, usually is hollow and sometimes intricately worked.
4. An officer who carries a mace as a token of authority.
5. A knobbed mallet used by curriers to make leather supple when dressing it.
6. (archaic) A billiard cue.

Verb

To hit someone or something with a mace.

Verb

1. To spray in defense or attack with mace (pepper spray or tear gas) using a hand-held device.
2. (informal) To spray a similar noxious chemical in defense or attack using an available hand-held device such as an aerosol spray can.

Synonyms

club

staff

scepter

macebearer

wand

macer

cudgel

rod

sceptre

nutmeg

pole

baton

truncheon

stick

myristica

billy

bludgeon

buldgeon

pestle

shillelagh

verge

nutmeg tree

war club

muscade

muskatel

nutmeg’s cover

myristica fragrans

bat

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Translations

macis

mazza

maza

masse

macis

maça

macis

Streitkolben

Mazis

macis

Muskatblüte

maça

μοσχοκάρυδο

massue

foelie

Pronounced as (IPA)

/meɪs/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: mace

Cognate with Italian: mazza

Cognate with Spanish: maza

Inherited from Middle English: -

In summary

From Middle English mace, borrowed from Old French mace, mache, from Vulgar Latin *mattia, *mattea, matia, (compare Italian mazza, Spanish maza), probably from Proto-West Germanic *mattjō (“cutting tool, hoe”).