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Guillotine

//ˈɡɪlətiːn// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A machine used for the application of capital punishment by decapitation, consisting of a tall upright frame from which is suspended a heavy diagonal-edged blade which is dropped onto the neck of the person to be executed; also, execution using this machine. also, figuratively, historical

    "For two-and-twenty years he [Joseph-Ignace Guillotin], unguillotined, shall hear nothing but guillotine, see nothing but guillotine; then dying, shall through long centuries wander, as it were, a disconsolate ghost, on the wrong side of Styx and Lethe; his name like to outlive [Julius] Cæsar’s."

  2. 2
    instrument of execution that consists of a weighted blade between two vertical poles; used for beheading people wordnet
  3. 3
    A device or machine with a cutting blade.; A device used for cutting the pages of books, stacks of paper, etc., to straight edges, usually by means of a hinged or sliding blade attached to a flat platform. broadly
  4. 4
    closure imposed on the debate of specific sections of a bill wordnet
  5. 5
    A device or machine with a cutting blade.; An instrument with a sliding blade for cutting the tonsils, uvula, or other body parts. broadly
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  1. 6
    A parliamentary procedure for fixing the dates when various stages of discussion of a bill must end, to ensure that the enactment of the bill proceeds expeditiously. British, broadly, informal

    "The right hon. Gentleman is making a great stooshie about time in relation to this Bill, but was it not the case that, when the SNP [Scottish National Party] Scottish Government introduced their continuity Bill in the Scottish Parliament, they operated a ruthless guillotine to prevent proper scrutiny of it? That is the case; they ran a guillotine on that Bill, and there was a very limited amount of time allowed for debate and scrutiny, yet he complains about that happening here."

  2. 7
    A legislative motion that debate be ended and a vote taken; a cloture. US, broadly, informal
Verb
  1. 1
    To use a guillotine (on someone or something).; To execute (someone) with a guillotine. also, figuratively, transitive

    "Many counterrevolutionaries were guillotined during the French Revolution."

  2. 2
    kill by cutting the head off with a guillotine wordnet
  3. 3
    To use a guillotine (on someone or something).; To cut or trim (a body part, a stack of paper, etc.) with a guillotine. transitive
  4. 4
    To end discussion (about a parliamentary bill or part of one) by invoking a guillotine procedure. British, informal, transitive
  5. 5
    To end (a legislative debate) by invoking cloture. US, informal, transitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French guillotine, named after the French physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (1738–1814), who proposed its use for capital punishment.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French guillotiner (“to execute with a guillotine, to guillotine”), from guillotine (see etymology 1) + -er (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs).

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