cucking stool

American  

[kuhk-ing] / ˈkʌk ɪŋ /

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.

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cucking stool British  

/ 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

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Etymology

Origin of cucking stool

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

Example Sentences

In most places, the town-meeting style of democracy has long since gone the way of the cucking stool.

From Time Magazine Archive

Years ago a ducking or cucking stool was placed at the northern side of it, adjoining a pit, and at the edge of the thoroughfare known as Meadow street.

From Our Churches and Chapels Their Parsons, Priests, & Congregations Being a Critical and Historical Account of Every Place of Worship in Preston by Atticus

In the year 1572 Kingston got a new cucking stool; the Kingston scolds had become past bearing.

From Highways and Byways in Surrey by Thomson, Hugh