Garrote
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 An iron collar formerly used in Spain to execute people by strangulation. historical
"[…] promising that, by so doing, the painful death to which he had been sentenced should be commuted for the milder form of the garrote,—a mode of punishment by strangulation, used for criminals in Spain."
- 2 an instrument of execution for execution by strangulation wordnet
- 3 Something, especially a cord or wire, used for strangulation.
"The mob boss was known for having his enemies executed with a garrote of piano wire."
- 1 To execute by strangulation, to kill using a garrote. transitive
- 2 strangle with an iron collar wordnet
- 3 To suddenly render insensible by semi-strangulation, and then to rob. transitive
"“And then Lee may have fallen into the river, and Norton been garrotted. It is certainly a formidable indictment that you have against Bellingham; but if you were to place it before a police magistrate, he would simply laugh in your face.”"
Example
More examples"[…] promising that, by so doing, the painful death to which he had been sentenced should be commuted for the milder form of the garrote,—a mode of punishment by strangulation, used for criminals in Spain."
Etymology
From Spanish garrote. Doublet of garrot.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.