Maisterstick

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A Scots term for the principal or most important person or thing ; a heavy stick or staff used by a master to beat or control others
2. Describing the chief or foremost person or thing in a group ; a cudgel or staff wielded by an overseer to enforce discipline
3. The leading or most important individual in a company ; a thick stick carried as a tool of authority and punishment

Etymology: A maisterstick was, literally, a master's stick: the cudgel a master carried to discipline servants, apprentices, or pupils. The word compounds "maister," the English form of "master" (from Latin "magister"), with "stick," and it is attested in English and Scots writing from later medieval times onward. The stick of authority seems to have taken on a second sense. Because the cudgel was the emblem of a master's power, "maisterstick" came to mean the chief or principal thing, the one that outweighs all the others. This figurative use appears to have grown out of the literal one, though the exact sequence of its development is uncertain.