1. Music. A slender wooden stick or rod used by a conductor to direct an orchestra or band.
2. A hollow metal rod with a heavy rubber tip or tips that is wielded and twirled by a drum major or drum majorette.
3. A short staff carried by certain public officials as a symbol of office.
4. Sports. The hollow cylinder that is carried by each member of a relay team in a running race and passed to the next team member.
5. A short stick carried by police; a billy club.
6. Heraldry. A shortened narrow bend, often signifying bastardy.

[French bâton, from Old French baston, stick, from Vulgar Latin *bastō, *bastōn-.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.