garotte
garrote
or ga·rote, ga·rotte, gar·rotte
- a method of capital punishment of Spanish origin in which an iron collar is tightened around a condemned person's neck until death occurs by strangulation or by injury to the spinal column at the base of the brain.
- the collarlike instrument used for this method of execution.
- strangulation or throttling, especially in the course of a robbery.
- an instrument, usually a cord or wire with handles attached at the ends, used for strangling a victim.
- to execute by the garrote.
- to strangle or throttle, especially in the course of a robbery.
Origin of garrote
Related Words for garotte
shoot, execute, slay, massacre, slaughter, butcher, exterminate, destroy, assassinate, behead, strangle, decapitate, lynch, asphyxiate, dispatch, mar, guillotine, snuff, ruin, abolishExamples from the Web for garotte
Historical Examples of garotte
So Garotte became a sort of theocracy, with Judge Rablay as ruler.
Eatin' Crow; and The Best Man In GarotteFrank Harris
Lajeunesse, Garotte, and Muroc were invaluable, each after his kind.
When Valmond Came to Pontiac, CompleteGilbert Parker
On the way to his house he met Duclosse the mealman and Garotte the lime-burner.
The Lane That Had No Turning, CompleteGilbert Parker
Executed in Porto Rico by the terrible Spanish method of the garotte.
The Pirates' Who's WhoPhilip Gosse
But Bent would croak: "Whitman's struck nothin'; thar ain't no gold in Garotte; it's all work and no dust."
Eatin' Crow; and The Best Man In GarotteFrank Harris
garotte
- a variant spelling of garrotte
Word Origin and History for garotte
garrote
also garrotte, 1620s, "Spanish method of capital punishment by strangulation," from Spanish garrote "stick for twisting cord," of unknown origin, perhaps from Old French guaroc "club, stick, rod, shaft of a crossbow," probably ultimately Celtic, but possibly from Frankish *wrokkan "to twist" (cf. Middle Dutch wroken "to twist").
I have no hesitation in pronouncing death by the garrot, at once the most manly, and the least offensive to the eye. [Major John Richardson, "British Legion," 1837]
garrote
"to execute with a garrote," 1851, from garrote (n.); sense of "choke and then rob" is from 1852. Related: Garotted; garotting.