guillotine

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a machine for executing a person by dropping a heavy blade through the neck

   The condemned prisoner was led from the cell to the guillotine.

2. 2
   verb

   to execute someone by means of a guillotine

   The revolutionary tribunal guillotined the former official after a brief trial.

3. 3
   noun

   a parliamentary procedure that sets a fixed deadline for debate on a bill or motion

   The government imposed a guillotine to bring the prolonged debate to a vote.

Simplified etymology

The late-18th-century word guillotine was named during the French Revolution after Dr Joseph-Ignace Guillotin. He did not invent the machine but suggested it as a more humane way to behead people.

From French guillotine, named after the physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, who advocated a standardized, less painful method of execution during the French Revolution. He did not invent the machine, but his surname became attached to it and then produced the English verb.

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