Behead

//bɪˈhɛd// verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To deliberately remove the head of; to cut off (someone's) head. transitive

    "“For a while it was hand-to-hand between us, then blood went curling along the currents and I beheaded Grendel's mother in the hall with a mighty sword.”]"

  2. 2
    cut the head of wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
decapitatedecollateburncrucifydecapitatedecollate

Example

More examples

"I will behead you. I promise you that."

Etymology

From Middle English beheden, bihefden, biheveden, from Old English behēafdian (“to behead”), equivalent to be- (“off, away”) + head.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.