noyade

[nwah-yahd, nwa-yad]

noun

1. destruction or execution by drowning, especially as practiced at Nantes, France, in 1793–94, during the Reign of Terror.

noyade

/ nwɑːˈjɑːd, nwajad /

noun

1. French history execution by drowning, esp as practised during the Reign of Terror at Nantes from 1793 to 1794

Word History and Origins

Origin of noyade¹

1810–20; < French: drowning, equivalent to noy ( er ) to drown (< Latin necāre to kill) + -ade -ade ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of noyade¹

C19: from French, from noyer to drown, from Late Latin necāre to drown, from Latin: to put to death

Example Sentences

Aristocrats would be dragged from their retreats, consigned to local jails, finished off in batches by a noyade or a fusillade--be drowned or shot in droves.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

Noyade, nwa-yad′, n. an infamous mode of drowning by means of a boat with movable bottom, practised by Carrier at Nantes, 1793-94.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

A blind crowd, all the more cruel for its growing fears, might fell her with a shower of stones, or make her undergo the trial by water—the noyade.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

What, Walter; haven’t you the grace to wait for me, after my having delivered you from such a noyade?

Read more on Project Gutenberg

Finding a rate of 200 executions a day insufficient he invented the noyade.

Read more on Project Gutenberg