beheadment

Noun

beheadment (uncountable)

1. In word games, the ability to form words by removing the initial letter.
   • However, the ordinary beheadment, as this phenomenon is called, is so widespread that it creates little interest. There are beheadments, though, which do have some sort of distinction. For instance, both the words concerned may have approximately the same meaning. Thus, ALONE and LONE both mean...1981, Darryl Francis, Puzzles and Teasers for Everyone
   • A famous story about a beheadment concerns a university professor who put up a notice that he ‘would meet his classes tomorrow’. Some joker beheaded ‘classes’ and made it into ‘lasses’, but the professor then got his own back by deleting the ‘I’.2003, Tony Augarde, The Oxford Guide to Word Games

   Antonyms:

   curtailment

2. Synonym of beheading.
   • The chairs in this room are covered with tapestry work, said to be portions of the cloak worn by King Charles at the time of his beheadment.1876, Chetham Society. cn, Chetham miscellanies
   • […] the execution by beheadment taking place almost immediately.1917, American Antiquarian Society, Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society

   Synonyms:

   beheading