behead

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to cut off a person's or animal's head, especially as a form of execution

   The condemned noble was beheaded at the fortress.

From Middle English beheden and Old English beheafdian, 'to behead,' formed from be- in its privative sense 'off or away' plus head. The structure therefore means literally 'to deprive of the head.'

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