A). staff, cudgel, club, D.S. 3.8 ; ς. ἀγριέλαιος, of Heracles' club, AP 9.237 ( Eryc.); cf. σκύταλον:—Special usages:

1). at Sparta, staff or baton, used as a cypher for writing dispatches, a strip of leather being rolled slantwise round it, on which the dispatches were written lengthwise, so that when unrolled they were unintelligible: commanders abroad had a staff of like thickness, round which they rolled these strips, and so were able to read the dispatches:—hence σκυτάλη came to mean a Spartan dispatch, Th. 1.131 , X. HG 3.3.8 , Ar. Lys. 991 , Plu. Lys. 19 , Gell. 17.9.15 ; and, generally, dispatch, message, as Pi. calls the bearer of his ode σκυτάλα Μοισᾶν O. 6.91 , where the Sch. quotes ἀχνυμένη σκυτάλη (dub. sens.) from Archil. ( Fr. 89.2 ); ἡ σκυτάλης περιτροπή, of labour in vain (cf. ὕπερος), Pl. Tht. 209d .

2). pole or staff, like those of a sedan-chair, LXX Ex. 30.4 .

3). strickle for levelling grain piled up in a measure, ς. δικαία PTeb. 823.15 , PAmh. 2.43.10 (both ii B.C.), cf. Poll. 4.170 .

4). wooden tally or ticket on a money-bag, etc., Diosc.Hist. 4 , D.S. 13.106 .

5). strip or rod of metal or ivory, κασσιτέρου Inscr.Délos 442 B 170 (ii B.C.); ἐλέφαντος ibid.; cf. Hld. 9.15 .

6). scourge whip, Moer. p.346P.

7). handle or lever in a machine, Orib. 49.3.3 ; handspike for turning a wheel, Ph. Bel. 68.6 , 85.2 , Hero Bel. 86.12 (pl.).

II). sucker from a stem, Gp. 9.11.4 , al.

III). cylinder or roller wherewith weights are moved, Arist. Mech. 852a16 , cf. CPHerm. 95.16 (iii A.D.).

IV). a serpent, of uniform roundness and thickness, Nic. Th. 384 , Sor. ap. Philum. Ven. 27.3 (for Plu. Crass. 32 v. Σκύλλα ).

2). a fish of like shape, Opp. H. 1.184 .

V). finger-bone, phalanx, Paul.Aeg. 6.43 , Tz. H. 9.126 .