Word.ws English Dictionary

drawing and quartering

drawing and quartering is the present participle and gerund of draw and quarter.

Meaning of draw and quarter

Verb

draw and quarter (third-person singular simple present draws and quarters, present participle drawing and quartering, simple past drew and quartered, past participle drawn and quartered)

  1. (historical, transitive) To execute (someone) by castration, disembowelling, beheading and quartering.
  2. (figuratively, transitive) To severely punish or criticize someone.

Questions about drawing and quartering

What is drawing and quartering the present participle and gerund of?
Drawing and quartering is the present participle and gerund of draw and quarter.

Words near drawing and quartering in the dictionary

  1. drawing a sober breath
  2. drawing a sponge over the slate
  3. drawing a straight furrow
  4. drawing a veil over
  5. drawing ahead
  6. drawing and quartering
  7. drawing attention
  8. drawing away
  9. drawing back
  10. drawing backs
  11. drawing blood

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: drawing and quartering (page history and authors); draw and quarter (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “drawing and quartering.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/drawing_and_quartering. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.