strappado Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. 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
    strapado.

WordNet

Strap*pa"do noun
Etymology
It. strappata a pull, the strappado, from strappare to pull, from Prov. G. strapfen: cf. G. straff tense, stretched.
Wordforms
plural Strappadoes
Definitions
  1. 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.
Strap*pa"do transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To punish or torture by the strappado. Milton.

Webster 1913