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. 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.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/meɪs/

Etymology

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”).