baton

A baton is a short stick. A runner hands one over, a conductor waves one, and a police officer carries one.

The three senses share nothing but the shape. In a relay race, dropping the baton is a disaster, and passing the baton has become a standard phrase for handing over responsibility. A conductor's baton is light and white so the players can see it. A police baton is a weapon, called a truncheon in older British English. A drum major twirls a fourth kind entirely.

Phrases it lives in

• pass the baton — hand responsibility on to someone else