drawing and quartering
Traitor's gruesome end
Drawing and quartering was a method of execution for high treason in medieval and early modern England.
The condemned was hanged briefly, then cut down alive to be disemboweled (drawn) and finally divided into four parts (quartered).
The pieces were often displayed publicly as a warning.
The phrase now appears mainly in historical contexts or as hyperbole for severe punishment: My mother would have me drawn and quartered if she found out.
- executionCompleting a planned task
- public executionWitnessed state killing
- high treasonBetrayal of one's nation
- tortureDeliberate infliction of suffering
- medievalOf the Middle Ages
treason · death sentence · capital punishment · hanged · disembowelment · scaffold · Tower · Tower of London · traitor · gallows · dismemberment · punishment · gruesome · public · condemned · rope · axe · butchery
- executionsexecution, execution chamber, hanging, guillotine, executioner
- torturerack, the rack, thumbscrew, thumbscrews, iron maiden
- torture devicesrack, iron maiden, thumbscrew, thumbscrews, pillory
- punishmentsjail, prison, timeout, grounded, fine
- historical justicetrial by combat, truth commissions, trial by ordeal, trial by fire, reparations
drawing and quarteringquick death
Immediate, painless ending
lethal injection · instant death · peaceful death · euthanasia · guillotine
drawing and quarteringmercy
Compassion toward offenders
clemency · pardon · amnesty · compassion · humane treatment
drawing and quarteringforgiveness
Releasing resentment toward offenders
absolution · acquittal · exoneration · restorative justice · rehabilitation
drawing, quartering, quarter, drawn, quarters, quartered, drawer, drawers, redraw