guillotine
Syllables: guil·lo·tine/ˈɡɪlətiːn/US/ˈɡɪləˌtin/
guillotine noun: a machine used for the application of capital punishment by decapitation, consisting of a tall upright frame from which is suspended a heavy diagonal-edged blade which is dropped onto the neck of the person to be executed; also, execution using this machine.
Noun
guillotine (plural guillotines)
- A machine used for the application of capital punishment by decapitation, consisting of a tall upright frame from which is suspended a heavy diagonal-edged blade which is dropped onto the neck of the person to be executed; also, execution using this machine.
- For two-and-twenty years he [Joseph-Ignace Guillotin], unguillotined, shall hear nothing but guillotine, see nothing but guillotine; then dying, shall through long centuries wander, as it were, a disconsolate ghost, on the wrong side of Styx and Lethe; his name like to outlive [Julius] Cæsar’s.1837, Thomas Carlyle, “The Procession”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book IV (States-General), pages 143–144
- A device used for cutting the pages of books, stacks of paper, etc., to straight edges, usually by means of a hinged or sliding blade attached to a flat platform.
- An instrument with a sliding blade for cutting the tonsils, uvula, or other body parts.
- A parliamentary procedure for fixing the dates when various stages of discussion of a bill must end, to ensure that the enactment of the bill proceeds expeditiously.
- The right hon. Gentleman is making a great stooshie about time in relation to this Bill, but was it not the case that, when the SNP [Scottish National Party] Scottish Government introduced their continuity Bill in the Scottish Parliament, they operated a ruthless guillotine to prevent proper...2019 October 22, Stephen Kerr, Member of Parliament for Stirling, “Second Reading of the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill”, in House of Commons Debates (House of...
- A legislative motion that debate be ended and a vote taken; a cloture.
Verb
guillotine (third-person singular simple present guillotines, present participle guillotining, simple past and past participle guillotined)
- To execute (someone) with a guillotine.
- Many counterrevolutionaries were guillotined during the French Revolution.
- Besides providing online courses to their own (generally fee-paying) students, universities have felt obliged to join the MOOC revolution to avoid being guillotined by it.2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845, archived from the original on 17 Jul 2020
- To cut or trim (a body part, a stack of paper, etc.) with a guillotine.
- To end discussion (about a parliamentary bill or part of one) by invoking a guillotine procedure.
- To end (a legislative debate) by invoking cloture.
- To end anything abruptly.
- Forgetting Solitaire, he almost dragged Bond through the door. At the last moment he remembered the girl and seized her with his other hand and pulled her in too, banging the door shut with his heel so that Mrs Stuyvesant's 'I hope you have a happy...' was guillotined before the 'stay'.1954, Ian Fleming, “The Everglades”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 126
guillotine meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Bengali
guillotine in Hindi
- machine used for the application of capital punishment by decapitation
- गिलोटिन giloṭin
guillotine in Tamil
- வெட்டும் கருவி, கில்லோட்டின், நறுக்கி
guillotine in Marathi
- गिलोटिन, गिलोटीन, गिलॉटीन
guillotine in Bengali
- গিলোটিন, গিলটিন, গিলোটিনকে
More languagesFewer languages
- guillotine in Telugu
- గిల్లిటైన్, గిల్లొటిన్, గిల్లోటైన్
- guillotine in Malayalam
- കടലാസ്സുവെട്ടി, ശിരച്ഛേദനയന്ത്രം, വൈക്കോൽ മുറിക്കുന്ന യന്ത്രം
- guillotine in Kannada
- ಗಿಲ್ಲಿಟೈನ್, ಗಿಲ್ಲೊಟಿನ್, ಗಿಲೊಟಿನ್
- guillotine in Punjabi
- ਗਿਲੋਟਿਨ, ਗਿਲੋਟੀਨ, ਗਿਲਟਾਈਨ
- guillotine in Gujarati
- ગિલોટિન, ગિલોટીન, ગિલ્લોટિન
- guillotine in Odia
- ଗିଲୋଟିନ, ଗିଲୋଟିନ୍, ଗିଲଟିନ୍
- guillotine in Nepali
- गिलोटिन, गिलोटीन, गिल्लोटिन
- guillotine in Tagalog
- gilyotina
- guillotine in Arabic
- مِقْصَلَة miqṣala
- guillotine in Malay
- gilotin
- guillotine in Persian
- گیوتین giyotin
- guillotine in Thai
- กิโยตีน gì-yoo-dtiin
- guillotine in Vietnamese
- máy chém
Examples of guillotine in a sentence
- The guillotine was meant to humanize beheadings, but allowed the French Revolution to execute people at an industrial rate.
- Tall, black, menacing, it was indisputably what a guillotine should be.
- It disposed of political opponents mainly through the ‘dry guillotine’ of deportation rather than by physical liquidation.
Forms of guillotine
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | guillotines |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | guillotines |
| present participle | guillotining |
| past participle | guillotined |
| past | guillotined |
Origin of guillotine
Borrowed from French guillotine, named after the French physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (1738–1814), who proposed its use for capital punishment.
Borrowed from French guillotiner (“to execute with a guillotine, to guillotine”), from guillotine (see etymology 1) + -er (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs).
Words formed from guillotine
Phrases with guillotine
Questions about guillotine
- What does guillotine mean?
- Guillotine means a machine used for the application of capital punishment by decapitation, consisting of a tall upright frame from which is suspended a heavy diagonal-edged blade which is dropped onto the neck of the person to be executed; also, execution using this machine.
- What is guillotine in Hindi?
- Guillotine in Hindi is गिलोटिन (giloṭin). See Guillotine meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is guillotine?
- Guillotine can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce guillotine?
- Guillotine is pronounced /ˈɡɪlətiːn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of guillotine?
- The plural of guillotine is guillotines.
Words near guillotine in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: guillotine (page history and authors); guillotine (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); guillotine (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); guillotine (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); guillotine (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); guillotine (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); guillotine (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); guillotine (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); guillotine (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); guillotine (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); guillotine (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-guillotine.wav.
Cite this entry: “guillotine.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/guillotine. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.