pestle

Meanings

Noun

• A club-shaped, round-headed stick used in a mortar to pound, crush, rub or grind things.
• A constable's or bailiff's staff; so called from its shape.
• The leg and leg bone of an animal, especially of a pig.

Verb

• To pound, crush, rub or grind, as in a mortar with a pestle.

Origin

• From Middle English pestel, pestell, from Old French pestel, from Latin pistillum, from pīnsō. pistil.