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View synonyms for guillotine

guillotine

[ gil-uh-teen, gee-uh-; verb gil-uh-teen, gee-uh- ]

noun

  1. 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.
  2. an instrument for surgically removing the tonsils.
  3. any of various machines in which a vertical blade between two parallel uprights descends to cut or trim metal, stacks of paper, etc.


verb (used with object)

, guil·lo·tined, guil·lo·tin·ing.
  1. to behead by the guillotine.
  2. to cut with or as if with a guillotine.

guillotine

noun

    1. a device for beheading persons, consisting of a weighted blade set between two upright posts
    2. the guillotine execution by this instrument
  1. 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
  2. a surgical instrument for removing tonsils, growths in the throat, etc
  3. Also calledclosure 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


verb

  1. to behead (a person) by guillotine
  2. (in Parliament, etc) to limit debate on (a bill, motion, etc) by the guillotine

guillotine

  1. 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.


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Derived Forms

  • ˌguilloˈtiner, noun

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Other Words From

  • un·guillo·tined adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of guillotine1

1785–95; named after J. I. Guillotin (1738–1814), French physician who urged its use

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Word History and Origins

Origin of guillotine1

C18: from French, named after Joseph Ignace Guillotin (1738–1814), French physician, who advocated its use in 1789

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Example Sentences

You must see the Vomitron and the Skateboard Guillotine for yourself to fully grasp their willful absurdity.

From Time

Images of maskless students in Georgia went viral, for example, while teachers brought handmade coffins and a guillotine to a protest in New York City.

The 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.

We 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 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”?

There was actually a song called “Margaret on the Guillotine.”

True, the great majority of the old bulls survived the post, revolutionary guillotine.

Its 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.

But France had had enough of the Terror, and knew that she could evolve her safety by other means than that of the guillotine.

The question between the Girondist and the Jacobin was, "Who shall lie down on the guillotine?"

The young ladies were all arrested, fourteen in number, and taken in a cart to the guillotine.

Hence the Jacobins had serious cause to fear a reaction, and determined to silence their voices by the slide of the guillotine.

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