strappado

See also: Strappado

English

Etymology

Italian strappato, from strappare (“to pull”).

Noun

strappado (countable and uncountable, plural strappados or strappadoes)

1. A form of torture in which the victim is hung from the ceiling by a rope attached to the hands, which are tied together behind the victim's back.
   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:

     What, vpon compulsion? No: were I at the Strappado, or all the Racks in the World, I would not tell you on compulsion.

Translations

form of torture

• Czech: estrapáda
• Finnish: strappado, vipuhirsipuu
• French: estrapade (fr) f
• German: Strappado (de) n, Pendel (de)
• Italian: strappata (it) f, tratti di fune
• Portuguese: estrapada f
• Spanish: garrucha (es) f
• Swedish: strappado

Verb

strappado (third-person singular simple present strappados, present participle strappadoing, simple past and past participle strappadoed)

1. (transitive) To torture by means of this device.