electric chair
Americannoun
-
a chair used to electrocute criminals sentenced to death.
-
the penalty of legal electrocution.
noun
Etymology
Origin of electric chair
An Americanism dating back to 1870–75
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To offer one more example, when the electric chair was first used, Edwin Davis, the man who built the device, obtained a patent for it in 1897.
From Slate • May 6, 2025
“As soon as Dara and I walked into his house, the electric chair from ‘Female Trouble’ was right in front of us.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 27, 2023
But by the late 1970s and early 1980s, problems with executions using the electric chair made headlines everywhere.
From Salon • Dec. 15, 2022
In 1983, Ms. Piel persuaded a judge to issue a stay of their execution 16 hours before the defendants were set to die in the electric chair.
From Washington Post • Nov. 30, 2022
The Carter Cowboys had been saved from the electric chair.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
