strappado

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun a form of torture in which the hands are tied behind a person's back and they are lifted off the ground by a rope tied to their wrists, then allowed to drop until their fall is checked with a jerk by the rope

From Italian strappato, from strappare (“to pull”).

A tooth out, the strappado, or the rack? — The Gay Adventure: A Romance, Richard Bird
The strappado was an instrument of torture by which the victim's limbs were wrenched out of joint and broken. — McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, William Holmes McGuffey
The wheel, the gibbet, the strappado, kept good guard around the place of refuge, and lay in watch incessantly for their prey, like sharks around a vessel. — Notre-Dame de Paris, Victor Hugo

strapado

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