E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Strappa’do.
A military punishment formerly practised; it consisted of pulling an offender to a beam and then letting him down suddenly; by this means a limb was not unfrequently dislocated. (Italian, strappa’re, to pull.)
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“Were I at the strappado or the rack, I’d give no man a reason on compulsion.”—Shakespeare: 1 Henry IV., ii. 4.
