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.
2.
the collarlike instrument used for this method of execution.
3.
strangulation or throttling, esp. in the course of a robbery.
4.
an instrument, usually a cord or wire with handles attached at the ends, used for strangling a victim.
–verb (used with object)
5.
to execute by the garrote.
6.
to strangle or throttle, esp. in the course of a robbery.
[guh-rot, -roht] 
