CUDGEL

[verb] [T] -ll- or US usually -l-The thugs kicked and cudgelled the man to the ground (= hit him repeatedly with cudgels).(figurative) The newspaper cudgelled him into admitting (= forced him to admit) the truth.To cudgel your brains is to think very hard or try to remember something you have forgotten.I cudgelled my brains, trying to remember her name.