blunt instrument
Illustration — A hammer could be used as a blunt instrument A blunt instrument is any solid object that can be used as a hand tool, weapon or thrown projectile for striking a target, exerts impact via direct transfer of force and momentum, and has no sharp point or edge on the contact surface with the target. A blunt weapon may be contrasted with edged weapons in that the former causes mostly closed trauma instead of open incisions or puncture wounds, and are also different to kinetic projectiles such as bullets or arrows, whose speed and kinetic energy are so significant that they cause penetrating trauma often with cavitations even if the projectile is of a blunt shape. Blunt instruments typically inflict blunt force trauma, causing contusions, fractures and internal bleeding while leaving the skin intact, although they occasionally can produce irregular lacerations by shearing.
Also recorded as blunt weapon
blunt instrument
Orange County Sheriff's Office · Law Crime Network (YouTube) · Public domain
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Illustration — A hammer could be used as a blunt instrument A blunt instrument is any solid object that can be used as a hand tool, weapon or thrown projectile for striking a target, exerts impact via direct transfer of force and momentum, and has no sharp point or edge on the contact surface with the target. A blunt weapon may be contrasted with edged weapons in that the former causes mostly closed trauma instead of open incisions or puncture wounds, and are also different to kinetic projectiles such as bullets or arrows, whose speed and kinetic energy are so significant that they cause penetrating trauma often with cavitations even if the projectile is of a blunt shape. Blunt instruments typically inflict blunt force trauma, causing contusions, fractures and internal bleeding while leaving the skin intact, although they occasionally can produce irregular lacerations by shearing.
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war hammer
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wikipedia incomplete · checked 25 September 2026
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wikidata · Q339828 · wikipedia · Blunt instrument
In this article
Examples
Examples
Depending on the parts of the body struck, organs may be ruptured or otherwise damaged, and attacks with a blunt instrument may be fatal, especially when striking vital areas such as the head, neck and chest.
Some sorts of blunt instruments are very readily available, and often figure in crime cases. Examples of blunt instruments include: • Personal implements such as walking sticks • Tools such as hammers, crowbars, pipe wrenches, or heftier flashlights such as the Maglite or Kel-Lite • Parts of tools, such as pickaxe handles • Sports equipment such as cricket bat or baseball bats, hockey sticks, pool cues, golf clubs, etc. • Weapons such as batons, bâton français, spears (using the haft), or guns (see firearm as a blunt weapon) • Other items, such as rocks, stones, bricks, millwall bricks or tree branches.
In popular culture
In popular culture
Maxwell's Silver Hammer is a novelty song by The Beatles that describes murders by blunt force and the subsequent trial of the perpetrator.
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Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Blunt instrument, revision 1321942514 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
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reference work
- “Blunt instrument”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
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authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q339828: blunt instrument
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Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.EMedicine article 1680107 Forensic Autopsy of Blunt Force Trauma
- 2.Blunt Force Injuries. 9781315107271.
- 3.Catanesi, Roberto. Psychopathology and weapon choice: A study of 103 perpetrators of homicide or attempted homicide. Forensic Science International. 209. 1–3. 149–153. 2011. 10.1016/j.forsciint.2011.01.019.
- 4.Park, Jisun. Weapon Use in Korean Homicide: Differences Between Homicides Involving Sharp and Blunt Instruments. Journal of Forensic Sciences. 63. 4. 1134–1137. 2018. 10.1111/1556-4029.13673.
- 5.Sulaiman, Nur Amirah. Blunt force trauma to skull with various instruments. Malaysian J Pathol. 36. 1. 33–39. 2014.
- 6.Marchiaro, Stefano. Blunt weapons in the roman imperial army. A multidisciplinary approach to the clava from experimental archaeology to forensic anthropology. Archivio per l'Antropologia e la Etnologia. 153. 105–118. 2023. 10.36253/aae-2344.
- 7.Curran, Joseph B. War Clubs in Southern California: an Interdisciplinary Study of Blunt Force Weapons and Their Impact. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. 28. 4. 1200–1223. 2021. 10.1007/s10816-020-09493-4.
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- war hammerTerminology
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