hang, draw and quarter en · VERB
Pronunciation
Etymology
From hang + draw and quarter.
Meanings
-
(historical, transitive) To execute (someone) by hanging until nearly dead, followed by castration, disembowelling, beheading and quartering; especially as a punishment for high treason.
[…]- and The Postgate, an inn named after a local priest, Father Nicholas Postgate, who was one of England's last Roman Catholic martyrs. He was hung, drawn and quartered at York in 1679 after baptising a child into the Roman faith.
1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 171, about Egton Bridge:
-
(figuratively, transitive) To savagely attack, or attempt to utterly destroy.
hanged, drawn and quartered by the press
One ASLEF representative believed: "We have been made to a degree the scapegoat of many politicians. We have been hanged, drawn and quartered by Dr Beeching in order that some people can prove the failure of public ownership."
2023 March 22, Mike Esbester, “Staff, the public and industry will suffer”, in RAIL, number 979, page 39:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| hung, drawn and quartered | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| hanged, drawn and quartered | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| hanging, drawing and quartering | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| hung, drew and quartered | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| hanged, drew and quartered | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| hangs, draws and quarters | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic |