Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Baton |
BatonNoun1. A thin tapered rod used by a conductor to direct an orchestra. 2. An implement passed from runner to runner in a relay race. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "baton" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1814. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Public Administration | A short staff or club with which a police constable is armed. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A baton or truncheon (nightstick in American English) is essentially a stick of less than arms-length, usually made wood, plastic, or metal, and carried by law enforcement, correctional, and security personnel for non-lethal self-defense or combat situations. It is used to strike, poke, and lock onto body parts of an assailant.
There are several variations; but all are either gripped at one end (nightstick), or on a handle protruding at a right-angle near one end (based on the martial arts' tonfa).
At the end of the 20th century, a popular straight baton was made of steel tubing which collapsed together for carrying, then slid apart to extend. A small metal knob on the end added weight when the baton was used as a bludgeon.
British police officers traditionally carried simple wooden truncheons (in police slang simply called a "stick") instead of guns. In recent years they have been all but replaced by more modern side-arm and telescopic batons.
Orchestral conductorss use light-weight batons for direction rather than combat.
Relay racers carry (and pass on) symbolic batons.
Compare mace and staff of office for the marrying of defense and symbolism.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Baton."
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Inutility | Seek after impossibilities, strive after impossibilities; use vain efforts, labor in vain, roll the stone of Sisyphus, beat the air, lash the waves, battre l'eau avec un baton, donner un coup d'epee dans l'eau, fish in the air, milk the ram, drop a bucket into an empty well, sow the sand; bay the moon; preach to the winds, speak to the winds; whistle jigs to a milestone; kick against the pricks, se battre contre des moulins; lock the stable door when the steed is stolen, lock the barn door after the horse is stolen; (too late);seek after impossibilities, strive after impossibilities; use vain efforts, labor in vain, roll the stone of Sisyphus, beat the air, lash the waves, battre l'eau avec un baton, donner un coup d'epee dans l'eau, fish in the air, milk the ram, drop a bucket into an empty well, sow the sand; bay the moon; preach to the winds, speak to the winds; whistle jigs to a milestone; kick against the pricks, se battre contre des moulins; lock the stable door when the steed is stolen, lock the barn door after the horse is stolen; (too late); hold a farthing candle to the sun; cast pearls before swine; (waste); carry coals to Newcastle; (redundancy); wash a blackamoor white; (impossible). |
Scepter | Noun: scepter, regalia, caduceus; Mercury's rod, Mercury's staff, Mercury's wand; rod of empire, mace, fasces, wand; staff, staff of office; baton, truncheon; flag; (insignia); ensign of authority, emblem of authority, badge of authority, insignia of authority. |
Support | Staff, stick, crutch, alpenstock, baton, staddle; bourdon, cowlstaff, lathi, mahlstick. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Baton |
| English words defined with "baton": Baston, Baton Rouge Bridge, baton twirler, Batoon, Batton ♦ Cantoral staff, conducting ♦ drum majorette ♦ Morgan City ♦ twirler ♦ wand. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "baton": Private ♦ relative work, relay baton. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "baton": Batten. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Baton" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Czech (backpack), Romanian (roll, stick), Turkish (baton). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | You'll be tellin' the warden about my baton up your ass (The Shawshank Redemption; writing credit: Frank Darabont) | |
Lyrics | Detroit, Chicago, Chattanooga, Baton Rouge (Back In The USA; performing artist: Chuck Berry) Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waiting for a train (Me & Bobby McGee; performing artist: Janis Joplin) | |
Movie/TV Titles | L' Opium et le baton (1971) Baton Bunny (1959) Constable Smith and the Magic Baton (1912) Passing the Baton (1993) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | ARS geneticist Tom Rinderer (right foreground) and beekeeping cooperator Steve Bernard, along with ARS associates Tony Stelzer and Warren Kelley (background, L-R) of the Baton Rouge laboratory, inspect colonies of Russian and other honey bees. P. Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer.. |  | Duo de seringues à baton mécanique entre deux époux dumarais. / Martinet. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | Coaling at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in late July 1862, just after she reached the lower Mississippi. Ships of Farragut's fleet are in the background. Credit: NAVY. |  | At a Mississippi River area port, circa 1862-65. Note: The original caption identified location and date as Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in July 1862. However, the presence of a mortar boat (at right) indicates that either the date is later or the location is above Vicksburg if the photo was taken in 1862. Credit: NAVY. |
 | Sacking levee at city front, Baton Rouge, La. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Between Baton Rouge & New Orleans, on the Miss. River--Stopping seepage thru levee, placing dirt on river side. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | The Levee, Baton Rouge, La. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Cutting sugar cane, Baton Rouge, La. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Louisiana State capitol, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Memorial Hall, general view from east. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Esso Building, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Assembly curtains, closed. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Human Rights | Jamaica | Officers are being trained in alternative restraint methods in order to eliminate use of the baton. (references) |
Argentina | The judges' report was based in part on an 11-month investigation by the Buenos Aires provincial public defender, Mario Coriolano, who reported 602 cases of torture in jails and police stations in the province between March 2000 and June 2001. Most of these were punches and kicks to various parts of the body, baton blows, and threats (some with firearms). (references) | |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | PRIVATE, n. A military gentleman with a field-marshal's baton in his knapsack and an impediment in his hope. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Baton" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 93.24% of the time. "Baton" is used about 207 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 93.24% | 193 | 22,089 |
| Noun (proper) | 6.76% | 14 | 93,893 |
| Total | 100.00% | 207 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "baton" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Baton | Last name | 170 | 44,602 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "baton": baton Rouge ♦ baton Rouge Bridge ♦ baton twirler ♦ East Baton Rouge Parish ♦ relay baton ♦ stun baton ♦ twirling baton ♦ West Baton Rouge Parish. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "baton": baton-charged, baton-charges, baton-end, baton-less, baton-passing, baton-twirlers, baton-wielder, baton-wielding. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "baton"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | stok (cane, stick). (various references) | |
Albanian | skeptër (Mace, scepter, sceptre, truncheon, wand), shkop polici (Billy, blackjack, truncheon), shkop (bat, Billy, cane, cudgel, pointer, pole, rod, roost, staff, stick, truncheon, walking stick). (various references) | |
Arabic | هراوة الشرطي (nightstick), قضيب (bar, draw-bar, mace, penis, phallus, pointer, rail, rod, shaft, staff, stem, stick, switch, wand), عصا قائد الفرقة, عصا المرشال, المخصرة, العصا (stick). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | щафета (relay, relay race), жезъл (rod, staff, truncheon, verge, wand, warder), полицейска палка, диригентска палка (stick). (various references) | |
Catalan | pal (cane, stick). (various references) | |
Chinese | 警'. (various references) | |
Czech | taktovka (stick), pendrek (nightstick), obušek (cosh, cudgel, truncheon), kolík (dossil, peg, pin, pivot, plug), hùl (crook, rod, staff, stick), štafeta (relay, relay race). (various references) | |
Dutch | stok (cane, stick), staf (cane, staff, stick). (various references) | |
Esperanto | bastono (cane, stick). (various references) | |
Faeroese | stavur (cane, stick). (various references) | |
Farsi | چوب میزانه (Wand), عصایاچوپ صاحب منصبان , عصای افسران , باتون یاچوب قانون . (various references) | |
Finnish | viestikapula, tahtipuikko, sauva (crosier, rod, staff, stick, wand), keppi (cane, stick), kapula (gag, stick). (various references) | |
French | matraque, canne, bâton. (various references) | |
German | stab (bar, cane, crook, crosier, dipstick, headquarters, Mace, panel, pole, rail, rod, staff, stave, stick, stump, swab, wand), taktstock (stick), stock (cane, cue, floor, massif, pointer, pot plant, rock mass, roots, rosebush, staff, stick, stock, stocks, storey, story, vine), schlagstock (nightstick, quarter staff, truncheon). (various references) | |
Greek | ράβδοσ (bandy, bar, crook, drub, ferule, ingot, perch, rod, shaft, staff, stick, truncheon, verge, walking stick, wand), σκυτάλη (bar, staff, tally), γκλομπ (truncheon). (various references) | |
Hawaiian | shkop (cane, stick). (various references) | |
Hebrew | שבט (clan, family, rod, sceptre, stick, tribe). (various references) | |
Hungarian | karmesteri pálca, gumibot (billy, billy club, blackjack, cosh, nightstick, truncheon). (various references) | |
Indonesian | tongkat aba-aba pemimpin musik. (various references) | |
Italian | battitoio (beater, planer, scutcher, scutching machine), bastone di comando, bastone (cane, club, perch, rod, stick, truncheon, walkingstick), bacchetta (ferule, pointer, ramrod, rod, stick, wand). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 采配 , 警' , バッファ確保失敗 (badminton, baffy, banner, baton girl, baton pass, baton passing, baton touch, baton twirler, Battenberg lace, battle royal, body, buffererror, vanadium). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | バトン , さいはい (bowing twice, colleagues, epistolary clothing, fellows, second defeat, worshipping again), けいぼう (bedchamber, bedroom, guard, pillow talk). (various references) | |
Korean | 배턴. (various references) | |
Manx | bwoalley lesh builteen, builteen (ferula, staff). (various references) | |
Norwegian | stokk (cane, stick). (various references) | |
Papiamen | baston (cane, stick), bastòn (cane, stick), takon (cane, stick), takòn (cane, stick), palu (cane, pole, post, stake, stanchion, stick, timber, tree, wood). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | atonbay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | bastão (bat, billy, cane, mace, mallet, rod, staff, stick, wand). (various references) | |
Romanian | baston (bat, cane, cudgel, Mace, rod, staff, stave, stick, walking stick), baghetã de dirijor, toiag (rod, staff, stick, truncheon, wand). (various references) | |
Russian | маркер;палочка, жезл (rod, tipstaff, truncheon, verge, warder), дирижерская палочка (wand). (various references) | |
Scottish | maide (a stick, cane, stick, timber, wood), cuaille (a club, club, cudgel). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | palica (staff, stick, truncheon, verge, wand), štafeta (estafette). (various references) | |
Spanish | palo (cane, club, gallows, handle, javelin, pale, perch, pin, pole, shot, spar, staff, stick, suit, wicket, wood), batuta. (various references) | |
Sranan | tiki (cane, stick). (various references) | |
Swedish | taktpinne (wand), batong (blackjack, cosh, truncheon). (various references) | |
Turkish | baton, sopa (bashing, bat, beating, birc-rod, bludgeon, cane, caning, club, cosh, cudgel, drubbing, ferule, fescue, flogging, rod, shillelagh, stick, switch), cop (Billy, blackjack, bludgeon, cosh, nightstick, sap, truncheon), asa (rod, scepter, sceptre, staff, stick, wand), çubuk (chopstick, rib, rod, stave, stick, strip, stripe, switch, tobacco pipe, wand). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | кийок (bastinado, bat, bludgeon, cane, club, shillelagh), жезл (baculus, rod, staff, truncheon, wand, warder), естафетна паличка, бити поліцейським кийком, диригентська паличка (wand). (various references) | |
Welsh | byrllysg (mace), pastwn (bludgeon, club, cudgel), llawffon (walking stick), arweinffon. (various references) | |
Yucatec | che' (cane, pole, post, stake, stanchion, stick, timber, tree, wood). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | arundo, baculum, baculus. (various references) |
| Late Latin | 300-700 | bastum. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "baton": batons. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "baton": sabaton. (additional references) | |
Words containing "baton": sabatons. (additional references) | |
| |
"Baton" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: abon, abtion, aton, babon, bafoon, baiten, balon, balto, banon, baotou, bartoni, bashen, Bastan, Bastogne, batan, Batco, baten, bateo, batian, Batin, bation, Batmonh, Batn, bato, batol, bator, Batov, batton, Batum, Bavon, baxon, Bayon, bazon, Beaston, Bepton, betog, betong, Betson, betton, Beyton, bhatain, Bichon, Bidon, bijon, biotron, bipon, biston, bitod, Bitok, Biton, Bitoo, bitoon, blaten, blato, Blaton, Blayton, Boeton, bonton, boton, botton, bto, Buato, buchon, bution, butoh, buton, Byton, daton, eatoni, Jatun, Katond, maton, ubitron, waton. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "baton" (pronounced butÄ"n, ba"tÄ'n , or ba"tun) |
| 3 | -t Ä' n | automaton, photon, proton. |
| 5 | b a" t u n | batten. |
| 4 | -a" t u n | fatten, craton, flatten, Manhattan, Patten, platen, satin. |
| 3 | -t u n | actin, badminton, beaten, begotten, biotin, bitten, Boston, boughten, Bouton, brighten, bulletin, Burton, button, Canton, capstan, captain, carton, certain, charlatan, chieftain, clandestine, cosmopolitan, cotton, curtain, Dalton, dentin, dishearten, eaten, enlighten, exoskeleton, forgotten, fountain, frighten, frostbitten, gelatin, gluten, gotten, guncotton, handwritten, hearten, heighten, highfalutin, intermountain, intestine, jetton, kindergarten, kitten, lighten, litten, lovastatin, marten, Martin, Melton, metropolitan, misbegotten, mitten, molten, mountain, mutton, nekton, Newton, overwritten, Parton, phytoplankton, piston, plankton, plantain, pleasing, ponton, predestine, prolactin, puritan, rewritten, rotten, Samaritan, Seton, Sexton, shorten, Singleton, skeleton, smitten, spartan, straighten, sultan, sweeten, tartan, teston, threaten, tighten, Titan, Triton, tungsten, typewritten, unbeaten, unbutton, uncertain, underwritten, unwritten, verboten, wanton, wheaten, whiten, written. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-n-o-t" | |
-1 letter: boat, bota, nota. | |
-2 letters: abo, ant, ban, bat, boa, bot, nab, nob, not, oat, tab, tan, tao, ton. | |
-3 letters: ab, an, at, ba, bo, na, no, on, ta, to. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-n-o-t" | |
+1 letter: batons, bonita, botany, obtain. | |
+2 letters: baronet, bastion, bayonet, boating, boatman, boatmen, bonitas, botanic, buoyant, butanol, gunboat, niobate, notable, notably, obtains, reboant, sabaton, taborin. | |
+3 letters: ablation, ablution, aborting, abortion, absonant, abutilon, ambition, antibody, antiboss, antisnob, atonable, autobahn, ballonet, banjoist, banknote, baritone, baronets, barytone, bastions, bayonets, benzoate, betatron, bevatron, biathlon, bloating, boasting, boatings, boatsman, boatsmen, boltonia, borating, botanica, botanies, botanise, botanist, botanize, bouffant, butanols, butanone, corybant, downbeat, gunboats, johnboat, libation, lobation, longboat, niobates, notables, obeisant, oblation, obtained, obtainer, reobtain, roborant, runabout, sabatons, stonable, stopbank, subtaxon, tabooing, taborine, taboring, taborins, tailbone, toboggan, turbofan, umbonate. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Names: Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
