Guillotine
['gɪlətiːn;,gɪlə'tiːn] or ['ɡɪlətin]
Definition
(noun.) instrument of execution that consists of a weighted blade between two vertical poles; used for beheading people.
(verb.) kill by cutting the head off with a guillotine; 'The French guillotined many Vietnamese while they occupied the country'.
Inputed by George--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A machine for beheading a person by one stroke of a heavy ax or blade, which slides in vertical guides, is raised by a cord, and let fall upon the neck of the victim.
(n.) Any machine or instrument for cutting or shearing, resembling in its action a guillotine.
(v. t.) To behead with the guillotine.
Checked by Ida
Definition
n. an instrument for beheading—consisting of an upright frame down which a sharp heavy axe descends on the neck of the victim—adopted during the French Revolution and named after Joseph Ignace Guillotin (1738-1814) a physician who first proposed its adoption: a machine for cutting paper straw &c.: a surgical instrument for cutting the tonsils.—v.t. to behead with the guillotine.—n. Guill′otinement death by the guillotine.
Editor: Nicolas
Unserious Contents or Definition
n. A machine which makes a Frenchman shrug his shoulders with good reason.
Typist: Psyche
Examples
- I will have my hands full keeping your neck from beneath the guillotine. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- How many to the Guillotine to-day? Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- You mean the Guillotine. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- You know it is a capital crime, to mourn for, or sympathise with, a victim of the Guillotine. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- The sharp female newly-born, and called La Guillotine, was hardly known to him, or to the generality of people, by name. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death;--the last, much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine! Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- To the Guillotine all aristocrats! Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- So he guillotined Hébert, who had celebrated the Feast of Reason, and all his party. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- He was guillotined--for since the previous August the guillotine had been in use as the official instrument in French executions. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
Checked by Bonnie