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.

synonym: strapado.

Roget 972: punishment, punition^†; chastisement, chastening; correction, castigation.    discipline, infliction, trial; judgment; penalty etc. 974; retribution; thunderbolt, Nemesis; requital etc. (reward) 973; penology; retributive justice.    lash, scaffold etc. (instrument of punishment) 975; imprisonment etc. (restraint) 751; transportation, banishment, expulsion, exile, involuntary exile, ostracism; penal servitude, hard labor; galleys etc. 975; beating etc. v.; flagellation, fustigation^†, gantlet, strappado^†, estrapade^†, bastinado, argumentum baculinum [Lat.], stick law, rap on the knuckles, box on the ear; blow etc. (impulse) 276; stripe, cuff, kick, buffet, pummel; slap, slap in the face; wipe, douse; coup de grace; torture, rack; picket, picketing; dragonnade^†.    capital punishment; execution; lethal injection; the gas chamber; hanging etc. v.; electrocution, rail-riding, scarpines^†; decapitation, decollation^†; garrotte, garrotto [It]; crucifixion, impalement; firing squad; martyrdom; auto-da-fe [Fr.]; noyade^†; happy dispatch.    [suicide as punishment] hara-kiri, seppuku [Jap.]; drinking the hemlock.    ... show more

Polish: wahadło