Crossword clues for strappado
strappado
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Strappado \Strap*pa"do\, v. t.
To punish or torture by the strappado.
--Milton.
Strappado \Strap*pa"do\, n.; pl. Strappadoes. [It. strappata a
pull, the strappado, from strappare to pull, from Prov. G.
strapfen: cf. G. straff tense, stretched.]
A military punishment formerly practiced, which consisted in
drawing an offender to the top of a beam and letting him fall
to the length of the rope, by which means a limb was often
dislocated.
--Shak.
Wiktionary
n. A form of torture in which the victim is hung from the ceiling by a rope attached to the hands, which are tied together behind the victim's back. vb. (context transitive English) To torture by means of this device.
WordNet
n. torture in which a person's hands and tied behind their back and they are lifted off the ground by a rope tied to their wrists and that allowed to drop until their fall is checked by the rope
[also: strappadoes (pl)]
Wikipedia
The strappado, also known as corda, is a form of torture in which the victim's hands are first tied behind his or her back and suspended in the air by means of a rope attached to wrists, which most likely dislocates both arms. Weights may be added to the body to intensify the effect and increase the pain.
It is not, as Samuel Johnson erroneously entered in his dictionary, a "chastisement by blows".
Other names for strappado include "reverse hanging" and "Palestinian hanging" (although it is not used by the Palestinian Authority). Historically, it was used by the medieval Inquisition and many governments, such as the civil law court (1543-1798) of the Order of St. John at the Castellania in Valletta, Malta.
Strappado may refer to:
- Strappado, a form of torture involving a victim's arms.
- Strappado bondage, a related technique used by practitioners of BDSM.
Usage examples of "strappado".
If it is ordained that thou shouldst advance the ends of the Brotherhood by being shark-bitten, or flea-bitten, or bitten by sharpers, to the detriment of thy carnal wealth, or, shortly, to suffer any shame or torment whatsoever, even to strappado and scarpines, thou art bound to obey thy destiny, and not, after that vain Roman conceit, to choose the manner of thine own death, which is indeed only another sort of self-murder.
Both of the old man's thumbs were now but withered, bumpy, immovable claws, so he needs must use his two palms to raise and then lower his cider-cup, and he did this slowly, painfully, in deference to calcifications in joints sprung on rack and strappado.