garrote
/ɡəˈɹɒt/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.92 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An iron collar formerly used in Spain to execute people by strangulation.
noun
Something, especially a cord or wire, used for strangulation.
Example Sentences
- "I have twenty times done that which by Busnée law should have brought me to the filimicha (gallows), yet my neck has never yet been squeezed by the cold garrote."
- "[…] promising that, by so doing, the painful death to which he had been sentenced should be commuted for the milder form of the garrote,—a mode of punishment by strangulation, used for criminals in Spain."
- "The prison, scaffold, garrote, handcuffs, iron necklace and leadballs do their work, / The named and unnamed heroes pass to other spheres,"
- "The Spanish had responded to the insurgency with characteristic brutality. They gave rebels the "usual four shots in the back" or the garrote—an iron collar tightened around the victim's neck with a screw until he was strangled to death."
- "The mob boss was known for having his enemies executed with a garrote of piano wire."
- "I have not a sou, and for want of a few crowns I shall be garroted within a month unless I can escape, though, as I told you before, I have done nothing, a mere bagatelle; but the worst crimes in Spain are poverty and misery."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: garrote