garrote
Americannoun
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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.
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the collarlike instrument used for this method of execution.
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strangulation or throttling, especially in the course of a robbery.
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an instrument, usually a cord or wire with handles attached at the ends, used for strangling a victim.
verb (used with object)
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to execute by the garrote.
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to strangle or throttle, especially in the course of a robbery.
Usage
What does garrote mean? The garrote was a Spanish execution device used to kill someone by strangulation or damage to the spinal cord. Garrote is used to mean strangulation in general or a weapon a person would use to strangle someone. The execution method known as the garrote involved tightening an iron collar around a person’s neck until they died. Garrote is also used for the name of the actual device used as part of this type of execution. Today, the word garrote refers to a weapon used for strangulation, as in Police found a knife and a garrote at the suspect’s home. A garrote usually takes the form of a length of wire with handles on the ends. As a verb, garrote is used to mean to kill someone with a garrote or to strangle or throttle someone in general, as in The coroner had determined that the man had been garroted with piano wire. A person who strangles or kills someone with a garrote is known as a garroter. Garrote can also be spelled garrotte or garote. Example: Mr. Green had determined that the victim was strangled by Prof. Plum with a garrote.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of garrote
1615–25; < Spanish garrote or French garrot packing-stick < ?
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.
Outside, I take in the scene: street preachers denouncing Gnosticism, a lone banker trying to garrote himself with ticket tape, and the Bull – that gold, beautiful bull – running through the streets like Zeus.
From The Guardian • Jul. 8, 2015
“Forgive me” was a favorite Wallace phrase, the caress before the garrote.
From New York Times • Apr. 8, 2012
But Saddam's belligerence has only driven his foes to tighten their garrote around Iraq.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was a gag bill, with a touch of the garrote.
From Time Magazine Archive
He next went to Cuba with Lopez, was wounded and captured, but escaped the garrote to follow Walker to Nicaragua.
From Destruction and Reconstruction: Personal Experiences of the Late War by Taylor, Richard
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.
