hang, draw and quarter
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.23 in modern English
36
Scrabble Score
18
Letters
3
Syllables
11
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To execute (someone) by hanging until nearly dead, followed by castration, disembowelling, beheading and quartering; especially as a punishment for high treason.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "[…]- and The Postgate, an inn named after a local priest, Father Nicholas Postgate, who was one of England's last Roman Catholic martyrs. He was hung, drawn and quartered at York in 1679 after baptising a child into the Roman faith."
- "hanged, drawn and quartered by the press"
- "One ASLEF representative believed: "We have been made to a degree the scapegoat of many politicians. We have been hanged, drawn and quartered by Dr Beeching in order that some people can prove the failure of public ownership.""
Etymology
From hang + draw and quarter.