reference to the
death penalty
given to a
criminal (prior to the fifteenth century) for a
major crime. The sentence consisted of the
criminal being drawn behind a horse to the site of
execution,
hung by the neck until
dead and then
having his head
cut off and his
body chopped into four pieces (quartered), which were then put on spikes in a
public place as an
example. In later
times, the sentence was changed to only briefly hanging the
victim,
having him disemboweled (drawn) while still alive and then beheaded and quartered.
a
reference to the
death penalty
given to a
criminal in
England (prior to the fifteenth century) for a
major crime, such as high
treason (
treason against a sovereign or
state). The sentence has slight variations but basically consisted of dragging the
criminal behind a horse to the site of
execution, hanging him briefly, disemboweling him (drawing), beheading him and then chopping the
body into four pieces (quartering), and putting the parts on spikes in
public places to serve as an
example. Used figuratively it means one is subjected to
dire penalty.