Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
STRAPPADO
strappado, strapado
(noun) 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
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
strappado (countable and uncountable, plural strappados or strappadoes)
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.
Verb
strappado (third-person singular simple present strappados, present participle strappadoing, simple past and past participle strappadoed)
(transitive) To torture by means of this device.
Source: Wiktionary
Strap*pa"do, n.; pl. Strappadoes. Etym: [It. strappata a pull, the strappado, from strappare to pull, from Prov. G. strapfen: cf. G. straff tense, stretched.]
Definition: A military punishment formerly practiced, which consisted in drawing an offender to the top of a beam and letting him fall to the length of the rope, by which means a limb was often dislocated. Shak.
Strap*pa"do, v. t.
Definition: To punish or torture by the strappado. Milton.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
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CLOG
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