quarterstaff

noun

Etymology: From quarter + staff, attested since about 1550. Probably originally referred to a staff cut from the heartwood of a certain size of tree which was cleft into four parts, per the OED.

1. A wooden staff with an approximate length between 2 and 2.5 meters, sometimes tipped with iron, used as a weapon in rural England during the Early Modern period.

   “Name my accuſer ſaith he, or I defye thee Kemp at the quart ſtaffe.”

   “[F]ew country people there are who do not love to see two sturdy fellows thwack and belabour each other with quarter-staff, single-stick, or fists.”

2. Fighting or exercise with a wooden staff of this sort.

   “He was very adept at quarterstaff.”

   “First, several couples stood forth at quarterstaff, and so shrewd were they at the game, and so quickly did they give stroke and parry, that […]”