- club (n.)
- c.1200, "thick stick used as a weapon," from Old Norse klubba "cudgel," from Proto-Germanic *klumbon, related to clump (n.). Old English words for this were sagol, cycgel. Specific sense of "bat used in games" is from mid-15c. The social club (1660s) apparently evolved from this word 17c. from the verbal sense "gather in a club-like mass" (1620s), then "association of people" (1640s).
I got a good mind to join a club and beat you over the head with it. [Rufus T. Firefly]
Club sandwich first recorded 1903; club soda is 1877, originally a proprietary name. The club at cards (1560s) is the right name for the suit (Spanish basto, Italian bastone), but the pattern adopted on English cards is the French trefoil. - club (v.)
- "to hit with a club," 1590s, from club (v.). Meaning "gather in a club-like mass" is from 1620s. Related: Clubbed; clubbing.
CLUB, verb (military). -- In manoeuvring troops, so to blunder the word of command that the soldiers get into a position from which they cannot extricate themselves by ordinary tactics. [Farmer & Henley]