What does "strappado" mean?

A form of torture in which the victim is hung from the ceiling by a rope attached to the hands, which are tied together behind the victim's back.

What is a synonym for "strappado"?

Common synonyms include: confinement, gantlet, gauntlet, hard labor, imprisonment, incarceration.

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A form of torture in which the victim is hung from the ceiling by a rope attached to the hands, which are tied together behind the victim's back. countable, uncountable
"What, vpon compulsion? No: were I at the Strappado, or all the Racks in the World, I would not tell you on compulsion."
2
a form of torture in which the hands are tied behind a person's back and they are lifted off the ground by a rope tied to their wrists, then allowed to drop until their fall is checked with a jerk by the rope wordnet

Verb

"What, vpon compulsion? No: were I at the Strappado, or all the Racks in the World, I would not tell you on compulsion."

From Italian strappato, from strappare (“to pull”).

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