baton

Definitions

Obsolescent word for penis. See penis for synonyms.

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(Noun) 1. Music. a wand used by a conductor.
2. a rod of lightweight metal fitted with a weighted bulb at each end and carried and twirled by a drum major or majorette.
3. Track. a hollow rod of wood, paper, or plastic that is passed during a race from one member of a relay team to the next in a prescribed area.
4. a staff, club, or truncheon, esp. one serving as a mark of office or authority.
5. Heraldry.
a. a diminutive of the bend sinister, couped at the extremities: used in England as a mark of bastardy.
b. a similar diminutive of the ordinary bend.

French bâton, from Old French baston, stick, from Vulgar Latin *basto, *baston-.


1548, "a staff used as a weapon," from Fr. batôn, from O.Fr. baston, from L.L. bastum "stout staff," prob. of Gaulish origin. Meaning "staff carried as a symbol of office" is from 1590; musical sense of "conductor's wand" is from 1867.