The guillotine was a death penalty machine used to behead people convicted of crimes, and it was basically a giant blade that slid down and sliced through a person’s neck, their head falling into a basket below.
The guillotine was named after Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, a French doctor who promoted the machine because it was a quicker and more humane way to cut off a person’s head. Guillotine is also as verb. The last time the French government guillotined someone was in 1977, and in 1981 the death penalty was abolished in France. Pronouncing guillotine wrong won’t send you to it, but be safe and say it this way: GEE-yuh-teen.
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nv |
instrument of execution that consists of a weighted blade between two vertical poles; used for beheading people
kill by cutting the head off with a guillotine
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2 |
n |
closure imposed on the debate of specific sections of a bill
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