Pommels

[puhm-uh l, pom-] /ˈpʌm əl, ˈpɒm-/

noun
1.
a knob, as on the hilt of a sword.
2.
the protuberant part at the front and top of a saddle.
3.
Architecture. a spherical ornament or finial.
4.
Gymnastics. either of the two curved handles on the top surface of a side horse.
verb (used with object), pommeled, pommeling or (especially British) pommelled, pommelling.
5.
to beat or strike with or as if with the fists or a pommel.
/ˈpʌməl; ˈpɒm-/
noun
1.
the raised part on the front of a saddle
2.
a knob at the top of a sword or similar weapon
verb -mels, -melling, -melled (US) -mels, -meling, -meled
3.
a less common word for pummel
n.

mid-13c., “ornamental knob;” c.1300, “knob at the end of a sword hilt,” from Old French pomel (12c., Modern French pommeau), “rounded knob,” diminutive of pom “hilt of a sword,” from Late Latin pomellum, diminutive of Latin pomum “apple” (see Pomona), the connecting notion being “roundness.” Sense of “front peak of a saddle” first recorded mid-15c. In Middle English poetry it also sometimes meant a woman’s breast. The gymnast’s pommel horse is attested from 1908.

(2 Chr. 4:12, 13), or bowls (1 Kings 7:41), were balls or “rounded knobs” on the top of the chapiters (q.v.).