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
- garroter noun
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
It was a gag bill, with a touch of the garrote.
From Time Magazine Archive
If Author Fleming is guilty of using the old school tie as a cultural garrote, it is, fittingly enough, his own.
From Time Magazine Archive
“Whether help is good for them or not,” said the lady’s husband, a very straight and wiry man with a garrote collar.
From Dr. Sevier by Cable, George Washington
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.
