tar and feathering
Mob punishment ritual
Tar and feathering is a form of mob punishment in which hot tar is poured over a victim and feathers pressed into it, creating a painful, humiliating coating.
The practice was used in colonial America against loyalists, tax collectors, and other targets of public outrage: The crowd threatened the merchant with tar and feathering.
Now largely historical, the phrase survives figuratively for any public shaming or rough treatment: He got a tar and feathering in the press.
- angry mobHostile crowd seeking retribution
- mobDisorderly, aggressive crowd
- vigilanteExtralegal justice-seeker
- mob ruleDominance by unruly crowds
- rough justiceApproximate, harsh fairness
punishment · humiliation · public shaming · colonial · American Revolution · riot · hot · pine tar · sticky · public · town square · shame · outcast · run out of town · justice · crowd · revenge · pitchforks
- vigilantismvigilante, vigilantism, lynch mob, lynching, mob justice
- punishmentsjail, prison, timeout, grounded, fine
- social crueltybullying, harassment, humiliation, shaming, mocking
- mob violenceriot, lynching, lynch mob, mob justice, vigilantism
tar and featheringfair trial
Impartial judicial proceeding
due process · legal proceeding · court hearing · judicial process · rule of law
tar and featheringticker-tape parade
Celebratory march through falling paper
civic celebration · hero's welcome · knighthood · laurel wreath · medal ceremony
tar and featheringforgiveness
Releasing resentment toward offenders
amnesty · pardon · mercy · reconciliation · clemency
feather, tarred, tarring, feathers, feathered, feathering, feathery