Pillory

created by Webster 1913

(thing) by Jet-Poop (2.6 hr) (print) ? I like it! Wed Mar 08 2000 at 21:03:37

A form of standing stocks, consisting of a pair of posts topped by a hinged platform through which the head and hands could be placed and secured. Minor criminals and ne'er-do-wells were often pilloried as a form of public humiliation. The pillory was sometimes combined with stocks and a whipping post.

Some people convicted to stand in a pillory also had their ears nailed to the platform to keep them from moving their heads.

(thing) by Big Alba (2.1 y) (print) ? I like it! Thu Jan 25 2001 at 7:14:51

Medieval devices used to hold down prisoners for torture (usually in torture chambers though they were also commonly found in town squares to discipline commoners). It was a wooden structure with three holes, two for hands and one for head/neck. It was hinged (the cut across half of the circles) and the prisoner's neck and arms would be placed in the semi-circles, then it would be closed and clamped shut. The stocks (base of the pillary) would be bolted to the ground so that the prisoner could not move and torture (commonly whipping) would be administered.

(definition) by Webster 1913 (print) I like it! Wed Dec 22 1999 at 2:00:41

Pil"lo*ry (?), n.; pl. Pillories (#). [F. pilori; cf. Pr. espitlori, LL. piloricum, pilloricum, pellericum, pellorium, pilorium, spilorium; perhaps from a derivative of L. speculari to look around, observe. Cf. Speculate.]

A frame of adjustable boards erected on a post, and having holes through which the head and hands of an offender were thrust so as to be exposed in front of it.

Shak.

Pil"lo*ry, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pilloried (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Pillorying.] [Cf. F. pilorier.]

To set in, or punish with, the pillory.

"Hungering for Puritans to pillory."

Macaulay.

Figuratively, to expose to public scorn.

Gladstone.

printable version
chaos

Whipping Post	For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge	stocks	finger pillory
tree	Fixfax	ne'er-do-well	The love that dare not speak its name
negative nodevertising	Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate	Nicholas Culpeper	"A Modest Proposal" vs. "The Shortest-Way with the Dissenters"
gallows	John Walker Lindh	Hillary Clinton	Longanimity
Mentor	Pickle	pill	CMYK
wooden ruff	degrade	Baltimore County, Maryland	torture

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