guillotine
a device for beheading a person by means of a heavy blade that is dropped between two posts serving as guides: widely used during the French Revolution.
an instrument for surgically removing the tonsils.
any of various machines in which a vertical blade between two parallel uprights descends to cut or trim metal, stacks of paper, etc.
to behead by the guillotine.
to cut with or as if with a guillotine.
Origin of guillotine
1Other words from guillotine
- un·guil·lo·tined, adjective
Words Nearby guillotine
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use guillotine in a sentence
You must see the Vomitron and the Skateboard guillotine for yourself to fully grasp their willful absurdity.
Jackass Forever Is an Idiotic Delight, Attuned to the Passing of Wind and Time | Stephanie Zacharek | February 3, 2022 | TimeImages of maskless students in Georgia went viral, for example, while teachers brought handmade coffins and a guillotine to a protest in New York City.
How these US schools reopened without sparking a covid outbreak | Betsy Ladyzhets | September 21, 2021 | MIT Technology ReviewThe pace of executions slowed, but did not stop, although now former supporters of the regime were more likely to be the victims of the guillotine.
The French Revolution offers a critical lesson as the U.S. returns to normal | Christine Adams | May 7, 2021 | Washington PostWe were talking and we said, we should probably write a finale for this season that could also be a series finale … We really felt like we were making the show with a guillotine above our necks.
Coca-Cola is trying to cut underperforming brands, and even modern ones like Odwalla juice and regional sodas like Delaware Punch are poised to fall prey to the cost-cutting guillotine.
The Rise And Fall Of Tab – After Surviving The Sweetener Scares, The Iconic Diet Soda Gets Canned | LGBTQ-Editor | November 29, 2020 | No Straight News
The main approaches to execution since the guillotine have been hanging, the firing squad, and the electric chair.
Wasn't the original name of “The Queen is Dead” “Margaret on the guillotine”?
Bigmouth Strikes Again: Smiths Bassist Andy Rourke Tells All | Michael Moynihan | October 13, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThere was actually a song called “Margaret on the guillotine.”
Bigmouth Strikes Again: Smiths Bassist Andy Rourke Tells All | Michael Moynihan | October 13, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTTrue, the great majority of the old bulls survived the post, revolutionary guillotine.
Memo: The Aaron Sorkin Model of Political Discourse Doesn't Actually Work | Megan McArdle | April 23, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTIts heart is in the French Revolution, but so is the guillotine.
Promotion came speedily when the guillotine cleared the way in the higher ranks by removing the incompetent and unfortunate.
Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-PattisonBut France had had enough of the Terror, and knew that she could evolve her safety by other means than that of the guillotine.
Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-PattisonThe question between the Girondist and the Jacobin was, "Who shall lie down on the guillotine?"
Madame Roland, Makers of History | John S. C. AbbottThe young ladies were all arrested, fourteen in number, and taken in a cart to the guillotine.
Madame Roland, Makers of History | John S. C. AbbottHence the Jacobins had serious cause to fear a reaction, and determined to silence their voices by the slide of the guillotine.
Madame Roland, Makers of History | John S. C. Abbott
British Dictionary definitions for guillotine
a device for beheading persons, consisting of a weighted blade set between two upright posts
the guillotine execution by this instrument
a device for cutting or trimming sheet material, such as paper or sheet metal, consisting of a blade inclined at a small angle that descends onto the sheet
a surgical instrument for removing tonsils, growths in the throat, etc
Also called: closure by compartment (in Parliament, etc) a form of closure under which a bill is divided into compartments, groups of which must be completely dealt with each day
to behead (a person) by guillotine
(in Parliament, etc) to limit debate on (a bill, motion, etc) by the guillotine
Origin of guillotine
1Derived forms of guillotine
- guillotiner, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for guillotine
[ (gil-uh-teen, gee-uh-teen) ]
A machine designed for beheading people quickly and with minimal pain. The guillotine, which used a large falling knife blade, was devised by a physician, Joseph Guillotin, during the French Revolution and was used as the official method of execution in France until the twentieth century.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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