necklace

Etymology

neck + lace

noun

  1. An article of jewelry that is worn around the neck, most often made of a string of precious metal, pearls, gems, beads or shells, and sometimes having a pendant attached.
  2. (figurative) Anything resembling a necklace in shape.
    a necklace of coral islands
  3. (South Africa) A device used in necklacing (an informal execution); a rubber tyre that is filled with petrol. It is placed around the victim's chest and arms, and set on fire.
    Necklacing on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
    Seven people have been arrested in connection with Saturday's "necklace" murder of three men in the Tjokville informal settlement at Jeffrey's Bay. 4 August, 2004, “Necklacing: 7 held”, in Headline Pretoria News
    2000 Beyond Our Wildest Dreams: The United Democratic Front and the Transformation of South Africa by Ineke Van Kessel Several of the alledged witches in Apel and GaNkaone were also subjected to a necklace execution
    2004 A Human Being Died That Night: A South African Woman Confronts the Legacy of Apartheid by Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela In the fluidly unfolding events of a necklace murder, was there time and space to stop the killing?

verb

  1. (South Africa) To informally execute by necklacing; by setting on fire a petrol-filled rubber tyre which has been put around the bound victim's neck.
    Frustrated residents tied the hands of two suspected criminals, put tyres around their necks and then set them alight. In a manifestation of growing disillusionment with the criminal justice system, residents of Bramfischerville, west of Johannesburg, on Tuesday abducted and necklaced two suspected burglars. May 29 2003, The Star
    2002 Buthelezi: A Biography by Ben Temkin Inkatha members have been hacked to death and necklaced, and their houses have been destroyed
    2000 Beyond Our Wildest Dreams: The United Democratic Front and the Transformation of South Africa by Ineke Van Kessel The first instance of necklacing occurred in March 1985 in the Eastern Cape township of KwaNobuhle.

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