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A staff used in cudgel play, shorter than the quarterstaff, and wielded with one hand; hence, any heavy stick used as a weapon. He getteth him a grievous crabtree cudgel and . . . falls to rating of them as if they were dogs. Bunyan. Cudgel play, a fight or sportive contest with cudgels. -- To cross the cudgels, to fo…

der; burdensome; clogging. He sunk beneath the cumbrous weight. Swift. That cumbrousand unwieldy style which disfigures English composition so extensively. De Quincey.

end to one's will; to subject; to subdue; to restrain; to confine; to keep in check. Part wield their arms, part curb the foaming steed. Milton. Where pinching want must curbthy warm desires. Prior.

tting in piece; m The Castilians would doubtless have resented the dismemberment of the unwieldy body of which they formed the head. Macaulay.

ss." Milton. "This enormous state." Shak. "The hoop's enormous size." Jenyns. Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait. Milton.

Ready; quick; expert; as, he is facile in expedients; he wields a facile pen. -- Fac"ile-ly, adv. -- Fac"ile*ness, n.

To feel beforehand; to have a presentiment of. [Obs.] As when, with unwieldy waves, the great sea forefeels winds. Chapman.

A gross, fat, unwieldy person. [Obs.] F. Junius.

A sword; -- used poetically and loosely. The glaive which he did wield. Spenser.

Figuratively applied to one who wields great or despotic power. [R.] Shak. Act of God. (Law) See under Act. -- Gallery gods, the occupants of the highest and cheapest gallery of a theater. [Colloq.] -- God's acre, God's field, a burial place; a churchyard. See under Acre. -- God's house. (a) An almshouse. [Obs.] (b)…

To manage in using, as a spade or a musket; to wield; often, to manage skillfully. That fellow handles his bow like a crowkeeper. Shak.

Anything bulky or unwieldly. Shak. Shear hulk, an old ship fitted with an apparatus to fix or take out the masts of a ship. -- The hulks, old or dismasted ships, formerly used as prisons. [Eng.] Dickens.

Belonging to, or suitable to, supreme authority, or one who wields it; royal; sovereign; supreme. "The imperial democracy of Athens." Mitford. Who, as Ulysses says, opinion crowns With an imperial voice. Shak. To tame the proud, the fetter'd slave to free, These are imperial arts, and worthy thee. Dryden. He sounds his…

Hence: Esp., to guide by careful or delicate treatment; to wield with address; to make subservient by artful conduct; to bring around cunningly to one's plans. It was so much his interest to manage his Protestant subjects. Addison . It was not her humor to manage those over whom she had gained an ascendant. Bp. Hurd.…

A heavy iron tool, curved and sometimes pointed at both ends, wielded by means of a wooden handle inserted in the middle, -- used by quarrymen, roadmakers, etc.; also, a pointed hammer used for dressing millstones.

nning of horses; as, he attended the races. The race is not to the swift. Eccl. ix. 11. I wield the gauntlet, and I run the race. Pope.

as, a ridiculous dress or behavior. Agricola, discerning that those little targets and unwieldy glaives ill pointed would soon become ridiculous against the thrust and close, commanded three Batavian cohorts . . . to draw up and come to handy strokes. Milton.

The persons or interest formerly representing slavery politically, or wielding political power for the preservation or advancement of slavery. [U. S.]

A large, heavy hammer, usually wielded with both hands; -- called also sledge hammer. With his heavy sledge he can it beat. Spenser.

To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield; as, to sway the scepter. As sparkles from the anvil rise, When heavy hammers on the wedge are swayed. Spenser.