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View synonyms for draw and quarter

draw and quarter



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Idioms and Phrases

Punish severely, as in Mom'll draw and quarter me if even one scratch appears on her new car . This expression alludes to two brutal forms of execution practiced in the past. In one the victim was drawn by a horse to a gallows, hanged, and then cut into four pieces and scattered; in the other the victim was hanged, disemboweled while still alive ( drawn ), and then beheaded and dismembered. In both the victim was said to be hanged, drawn, and quartered . Today the term is usually used hyperbolically.

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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.

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