bowstring

Etymology

bow + string

noun

  1. The string of an archer's bow.
  2. (historical) The string of an archer's bow, as used by the Turks for strangling offenders.

verb

  1. (transitive) To strangle with a bowstring.
    When the day broke […] it was high time for her to get up and be bowstrung—a thing very little more pleasant than hanging, only a trifle more genteel. 1850, Edgar Allan Poe, The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade
    1909, O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), A Municipal Report I have seen (on one of my imaginary tours) the Sultan of Turkey bowstring with his own hands one of his wives who had uncovered her face in public.

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