reference to a medieval
instrument of torture designed to gradually crush the leg and foot. Several
different types of
boot existed. One was a kind of vise extending from the knee to the ankle, tightened around the leg by means of
screws. In another
type, used in Scotland, the person's leg was inserted in the device and wedges were driven between the limb and the
boot until the
victim confessed or fainted. And if every
time this fellow
hit a
rough spot on the road you simply applied the lead
boot or the
pincers or the
brass basket full of
rats or some other interesting medieval torture and said, "Now, if you
don't get that next paragraph, you're going to have had it,
bud."
-A Review of Study (22 Sept. 64) n. a
reference to a torture device (
iron boot) formerly used for extorting confessions from prisoners. The device consisted of a long
iron "
boot" in which a prisoner's foot was inserted. Wedges were then driven between the leg and the
boot, serving to crush the leg and
shatter the bones. The lead
boot was once a common
form of torture used in Scotland, as well as in Ireland and
France.