scaphism

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (4)  · 
“
In my more barbaric moments I toy with the idea of bringing back the death penalty for crimes like this - but not execution by hanging - I was thinking execution by scaphism.

View all »
Definitions (2)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

  1. A barbarous punishment inflicted among the Persians, by confining the victim in a hollow tree. Five holes were made—one for the head, and the others for the arms and legs. These parts were anointed with honey to attract wasps, and in this plight the criminal was left till he died. Brewer.

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

Examples (2)

  • In my more barbaric moments I toy with the idea of bringing back the death penalty for crimes like this - but not execution by hanging - I was thinking execution by scaphism. —  Kiwiblog
  • The ancient Persians developed a gruesome practice called scaphism, which involved force-feeding a person milk and honey, lashing him to a boat or hollow tree trunk, and then allowing flies to infest the victim's anus and increasingly gangrenous flesh. —  Latest Articles
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 43 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Greek σκάφη, σκάφος, anything hollowed out (see scapha), + -ism.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »

If you'd like to prod us on getting a pronunciation for this word, sign in (or sign up) and let us know.

Charts

We are still working on calculating this word's frequency.

Recently looked up

Voicemail · falsification · self-justification · Computing · bucolic

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Der dicke Dachdecker deckte dir dein Dach, drum dank dem dicken Dachdecker, dass der dicke Dachdecker dir dein Dach deckte. · weitläufig · und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, so leben sie noch heute · redescheu · selbstverständlich