draw and quarter

Idioms  

1. 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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Example Sentences

They practically draw and quarter the opening movement’s first and second themes, introducing or elaborating on them with scratchy, rough-hewed accents.

From New York Times • Jun. 23, 2022

Not only are environmentalists clamoring for Watt's ouster, they are trying to draw and quarter him in the courts for what they view as his efforts to turn back the environmental clock.

From Time Magazine Archive

This was the first interview between Paine and the man who was to hang, draw, and quarter his memory in a biography.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 04, No. 21, July, 1859 by Various