Strapado (Noun)
Meaning
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.
Classification
Nouns denoting acts or actions.
Examples
- The prisoner was subjected to the brutal strapado, suspended high above the ground before being abruptly dropped, causing immense pain in his shoulders and wrists.
- During the medieval period, the strapado was frequently used as a means of extracting confessions from suspects, often with devastating results.
- In an attempt to elicit information, the interrogator resorted to the strapado, but his victim refused to reveal anything despite the intense suffering.
- Historical records show that the strapado was employed during the Spanish Inquisition, its use justified as a necessary evil in the pursuit of heresy.
- The gruesome details of the strapado, as recounted by the survivor, served as a grim reminder of the merciless cruelty that often characterized the treatment of prisoners during wartime.