bastinado

American  

[bas-tuh-ney-doh, -nah-doh] / ˌbæs təˈneɪ doʊ, -ˈnɑ doʊ /

noun

plural

bastinadoes

1. a mode of punishment consisting of blows with a stick on the soles of the feet or on the buttocks.

2. a blow or a beating with a stick, cudgel, etc.

3. a stick or cudgel.

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verb (used with object)

bastinadoed, bastinadoing

1. to beat with a stick, cane, etc., especially on the soles of the feet or on the buttocks.

bastinado British  

/ ˌbæstɪˈneɪdəʊ /

noun

1. punishment or torture in which the soles of the feet are beaten with a stick

2. a blow or beating with a stick

3. a stick; cudgel

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verb

1. to beat (a person) on the soles of the feet

Other Word Forms

• unbastinadoed adjective

Etymology

Origin of bastinado

1570–80; earlier bastanado < Spanish bastonada ( bastón stick ( baton ) + -ada -ade ¹ )

Example Sentences

They did this, wonderful to tell, without riots of protest or direct coercion of the bastinado or bayonet kind.

From Time Magazine Archive

This steelyeyed, iron-jawed playboy of the Senate, this Voltaire-tongued bastinado of the uplifters, this Rabelais-reading Jeffersonian �this James A. Reed of Missouri�what a sizzling presidential campaign he would hammer out!

From Time Magazine Archive

The feat for which the National Committee commended him proved him to be a very knout and bastinado.

From Time Magazine Archive

Good heavens!" thought I, "I have suffered the bastinado and the bowstring, but both were merciful compared to this.

From The Pacha of Many Tales by Marryat, Frederick

"You shall see now," said Mole, sternly, "how I can despise such trivialities as your bastinado."

From Jack Harkaway's Boy Tinker Among The Turks Book Number Fifteen in the Jack Harkaway Series by Hemyng, Bracebridge

Related Words

• nightstick
• truncheon