draw and quarter

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Punish severely, as in Mom'll draw and quarter me if even one scratch appears on her new car. This expression alludes to two brutal forms of execution practiced in the past. In one the victim was drawn by a horse to a gallows, hanged, and then cut into four pieces and scattered; in the other the victim was hanged, disemboweled while still alive (drawn), and then beheaded and dismembered. In both the victim was said to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. Today the term is usually used hyperbolically.

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Words nearby draw and quarter

draw, draw a bead on, drawability, draw a blank, draw a line between, draw and quarter, draw an inference, draw a veil over, draw away, drawback, drawbar

How to use draw and quarter in a sentence

As an example of good science-and-society policymaking, the history of fluoride may be more of a cautionary tale.
Anti-Fluoriders Are The OG Anti-Vaxxers|Michael Schulson|July 27, 2016|DAILY BEAST
As this list shows, punishments typically run to a short-ish jail sentence and/or a moderately hefty fine.
In Defense of Blasphemy|Michael Tomasky|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In Dresden, Germany, anti-Islam rallies each week draw thousands of demonstrators.
Police Hunt for Paris Massacre Suspects|Tracy McNicoll, Christopher Dickey|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Officials have said the war to reclaim upward of a third of Iraq and a quarter of Syria from ISIS could take years.
Pentagon Doesn’t Know How Many People It’s Killed in the ISIS War|Nancy A. Youssef|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST

By contrast, John McCain, the eventual GOP nominee, had raised approximately $12.7 million in the first quarter of 2007 alone.
Can Huckabee Convert the GOP’s Moneymen?|Lloyd Green|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
She also practises etching, pen-and-ink drawing, as well as crayon and water-color sketching.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement
It was one of those long moments that makes a fellow draw his breath sharp when he thinks about it afterward.
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair
At a quarter past seven he took his leave and we let drop our anchor where we were, off Cape Tekke.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I|Ian Hamilton
Kum Kale has been a brilliant bit of work, though I fear we have lost nearly a quarter of our effectives.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I|Ian Hamilton
No law of that country must exceed in words the number of letters in their alphabet, which consists only in two-and-twenty.
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift

draw and quarter

Words nearby draw and quarter

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How to use draw and quarter in a sentence