A medieval battle weapon or club with a spiked or studded head, sometimes used to break armor.
Possibly from 'cross' or from Old French, with origins partially obscure; the '-bell' or '-ball' component suggests a spherical or bulbous striking head, though the exact etymology remains disputed among historical linguists.
Medieval weapons had wonderfully weird names—'croshabell,' 'morning star,' 'flail'—and many of these words have vanished from everyday speech since nobody actually uses medieval weapons anymore, showing how vocabulary dies when the objects disappear.
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