Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In conchology, the removal—by death, growth, or accident—of the upper whorls of a spiral shell after the animal has ceased to occupy them. See cut in middle column.
  • noun The act of beheading; decapitation; the state of one beheaded.
  • noun Specifically In surgery, the removal of the head of the child in cases of difficult parturition.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of beheading or state of one beheaded; -- especially used of the execution of St. John the Baptist.
  • noun A painting representing the beheading of a saint or martyr, esp. of St. John the Baptist.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act of beheading someone.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Latin decollatus, from de + collum.

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