The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Pommel \Pom"mel\, n. [OE. pomel, OF. pomel, F. pommeau, LL.
   pomellus, fr. L. pomum fruit, LL. also, an apple. See
   Pome.]
   A knob or ball; an object resembling a ball in form; as:
   (a) The knob on the hilt of a sword. --Macaulay.
   (b) The knob or protuberant part of a saddlebow.
   (c) The top (of the head). --Chaucer.
   (d) A knob forming the finial of a turret or pavilion.
       [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Pommel \Pom"mel\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pommeledor Pommelled;
   p. pr. & vb. n. Pommeling or Pommelling.]
   To beat soundly, as with the pommel of a sword, or with
   something knoblike; hence, to beat with the fists. [Written
   also pummel.]
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

pommel
    n 1: a handgrip that a gymnast uses when performing exercises on
         a pommel horse
    2: handgrip formed by the raised front part of a saddle [syn:
       pommel, saddlebow]
    3: an ornament in the shape of a ball on the hilt of a sword or
       dagger [syn: knob, pommel]
    v 1: strike, usually with the fist; "The pedestrians pummeled
         the demonstrators" [syn: pummel, pommel, biff]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

66 Moby Thesaurus words for "pommel":
   bang, baste, bastinado, batter, beat, belabor, bellyband, belt,
   birch, buffet, cane, cinch, club, cowhide, cudgel, cut, drub,
   flagellate, flail, flap, flog, fustigate, girt, girth,
   give a whipping, give the stick, hammer, horn, horsewhip, jockey,
   knock, knout, lace, lambaste, larrup, lash, lay on, maul, paste,
   patter, pelt, pistol-whip, pound, pulverize, pummel, rap, rawhide,
   scourge, sledgehammer, smite, spank, stirrup, strap, stripe,
   surcingle, swinge, switch, thrash, thresh, thump, trounce,
   truncheon, wallop, whale, whip, whop