BATON

noun Etymology: French bâton, from Old French baston, ultimately from Late Latin bastum stick Date: 1520 cudgel , truncheon , a staff borne as a symbol of office, a narrow heraldic bend, a slender rod with which a leader directs a band or orchestra, a hollow cylinder carried by each member of a relay team and passed to the succeeding runner, a hollow metal rod with a weighted bulb at one or both ends that is flourished or twirled by a drum major or drum majorette