give someone the chair

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

give someone the chair

1. (chiefly US, idiomatic) To execute a person by means of the electric chair.
   • 1997, Sidney Zion, "High Court Takes Low Road to Justice," New York Daily News, 7 Jul. (retrieved 3 Mar. 2009):

     Joseph O'Dell, convicted of a brutal rape and murder, was sentenced to death after a Virginia prosecutor told the jury that if they didn't give him the chair, he'd one day get out and be free to kill again.