15 March 2018
pommel
[puhm-uh l, pom-]
noun
1. a knob, as on the hilt of a sword.
2. the protuberant part at the front and top of a saddle.
3. Architecture. a spherical ornament or finial.
4. Gymnastics. either of the two curved handles on the top surface of a side horse.
verb (used with object), pommeled, pommeling or (especially British) pommelled, pommelling.
5. to beat or strike with or as if with the fists or a pommel.
Also, pummel.
Origin of pommel
Middle English, Old FrenchLatin
1300-1350; (noun) Middle English pomel < Middle French, derivative of Old French pom hilt of a sword < Latin pōmum fruit; see pome, -elle
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for pommel
Historical Examples
No maker’s name, but the date 1638 is stamped upon the pommel.
Micah Clarke
Arthur Conan Doyle
He threw a leg over the pommel of his saddle and the three men halted in a group.
Dr. Sevier
George W. Cable
De Spain raised his right hand from his thigh to the pommel of his saddle.
Nan of Music Mountain
Frank H. Spearman
Anagram
elm mop
Today’s quote
Writers are not here to conform. We are here to challenge. We’re not here to be comfortable—we’re here, really, to shake things up. That’s our job.
– Jeanette Winterson
On this day
15 March 44BC – Roman dictator and self-declared Emperor of Rome, Julius Caesar, stabbed to death on the Ides of March by Marcus Junus Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus and other Roman senators. Julius Caesar’s assassination was one of the events that marked the transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.
15 March 270 – birth of St Nikolaos of Myra. Greek bishop of Myra (in what is now Turkey). He would often secretly leave gifts for people. The most famous story of his gift-giving related to a father who couldn’t afford the dowry for his three daughters, which would mean they’d remain unmarried. Legend has it that St Nikolaos secretly threw three bags of gold coins through the window one night so that there would be enough dowry for each. He became the model on which Santa Claus was based. Died 6 December 343.
15 March 1892 – founding of the English football club, Liverpool F.C.
15 March 1916 – President Woodrow Wilson sends thousands of troops into Mexico to capture the Mexican revolutionary, Pancho Villa.
15 March 1985 – the first internet domain name is registered, Symbolics.com.
15 March 1990 – Mikael Gorbachev elected as first president of the Soviet Union and held the office until 25 December 1991. He was the only person to occupy the office. He resigned as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on 24 August 1991 following a coup by hard-line members of the CPSU. During the coup, Gorbachev’s Presidency was briefly usurped from 19 August to 21 August 1991 by the Vice-President, Gennady Yanayev. On 8 December 1991, in a legally questionable move, the Soviet Union was dissolved with the agreement of Boris Yeltsin, Leonid Kravchuk and Stanislav Shushkevich, respective leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, creating the Commonwealth of Independent States (or Russian Commonwealth), whose leaders governed their own states.