garrote

Definitions

1. An iron collar formerly used in Spain to execute people by strangulation.
   historical
2. Something, especially a cord or wire, used for strangulation.

Equivalents

Examples

“[…] promising that, by so doing, the painful death to which he had been sentenced should be commuted for the milder form⟳ of the garrote,—a mode of punishment by strangulation, used for criminals in Spain.”

“The prison, scaffold, garrote, handcuffs, iron⟳ necklace and leadballs do their work⟳, / The named and unnamed heroes pass⟳ to other spheres,”

“The Spanish had responded to the insurgency with characteristic brutality. They gave rebels the "usual four shots in the back" or the garrote—an iron⟳ collar tightened around the victim's neck with a screw until he was strangled to death.”

“The mob boss was known for having his enemies executed with a garrote of piano wire.”

CEFR level