cucking stool

[ kuhk-ing ]

noun

1. a former instrument of punishment consisting of a chair in which an offender was strapped, to be mocked and pelted or ducked in water.

cucking stool

/ ˈkʌkɪŋ /

noun

1. history a stool to which suspected witches, scolds, etc, were tied and pelted or ducked into water as a punishment Compare ducking stool

Word History and Origins

Origin of cucking stool¹

1175–1225; Middle English cucking stol, literally, defecating stool, equivalent to cucking, present participle of cukken to defecate (< Scandinavian; compare dial Swedish kukka ) + stol stool

Word History and Origins

Origin of cucking stool¹

C13 cucking stol, literally: defecating chair, from cukken to defecate; compare Old Norse kúkr excrement

Example Sentences

Two years later, a new cucking-stool was made at the expense of the parish.

From Project Gutenberg

Scold′er; Scold′ing, railing: a rating; Scold′ing-stool, a cucking-stool.

From Project Gutenberg

The cucking-stool in the early history of England must not be confounded with the ducking-stool.

From Project Gutenberg

Chief among them was the Ducking or Cucking-stool, a scourge for scolds, and once as common in every parish as the stocks.

From Project Gutenberg

Two pounds were paid for a cucking-stool at Leicester in 1768.

From Project Gutenberg