Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A heavy wooden yoke borne on the shoulders and enclosing the neck and arms, formerly used in China for punishing petty criminals.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The name given by foreigners to the Chinese kia, or portable pillory, which persons convicted of certain petty crimes are condemned to kang, or carry on the shoulders, for periods varying from a few days to three months. It consists of a square wooden collar from 20 to 60 pounds in weight, with a round hole for the neck. As it usually measures 3 or 4 feet across, the convict is unable to reach his mouth or defend himself from insects, and is thus dependent on the good offices of his friends.
- To sentence to the cangue.
Wiktionary
- n. A heavy wooden collar or yoke borne on the shoulders and enclosing the neck and arms, formerly used in China to punish petty criminals.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A very broad and heavy wooden collar which certain offenders in China are compelled to wear as a punishment.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an instrument of punishment formerly used in China for petty criminals; consists of a heavy wooden collar enclosing the neck and arms
Etymologies
- From French cangue, from Portuguese canga. (Wiktionary)
- French, from Portuguese canga. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The priests are threatened with the cangue, or heavy wooden collar, and to be chained at the entrance of their”
“But it is remarkably effective in a country with a long history of punishment by humiliation — think of the cangue, a rectangular slab around the neck, in pre-Communist times and dunce caps in the Cultural Revolution.”
“A third attempt was punished with two months in the cangue, a wooden framework fastened about his neck and hands, used as a portable pillory.”
“But it is remarkably effective in a country with a long history of punishment by humiliation—think of the cangue, a rectangular slab around the neck, in pre-Communist times and dunce caps in the Cultural Revolution.”
“Apart from the weight of their fetters, and of the cangue in which they are thus pilloried, these men suffer much from hunger and thirst.”
“The cangue, if its wearers were properly fed and screened from the sun, is rather a disgrace than a cruel mode of punishment.”
“You, Cousin, you've put your own head into the cangue.”
“His reward was the cangue and bamboo saw -- _nokogirihiki_; failing death by this, he was to be crucified.”
The Yotsuya Kwaidan or O'Iwa Inari Tales of the Tokugawa, Volume 1 (of 2)
“Smeared with blood the bamboo saw was placed on the cangue in inviting proximity to the head.”
The Yotsuya Kwaidan or O'Iwa Inari Tales of the Tokugawa, Volume 1 (of 2)
“Placed in the cangue at the execution ground of Shinagawa a cut was made in each side of his neck.”
The Yotsuya Kwaidan or O'Iwa Inari Tales of the Tokugawa, Volume 1 (of 2)
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cangue’.
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Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
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Formerly
Being a list of words with definitions containing the word "formerly."
formerly, armorer, link, plummet, brank, pall-mall, florin, quondam, erstwhile, imponderable, recant, ether and 32 more...
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Never For Sale On Craigslist
List of items never for sale on craigslist.
Should you find one of these for sale, let us know. We'll scare you up a coupon for a free day at a gym or something.vectis, soupir, porcupine-machine, electric pig, poke-bonnet, shawm, staddle stone, beating-engine, hicon, figurehead, low-warp loom, radevore and 516 more...
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Ute
Durable items invented by Hom. Sap.
alpenhorn, matchbox, plinth, pillow, cantilever, fulcrum, troika, cloverleaf, nib, wheelbarrow, dictabelt, cockpit and 184 more...
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