Headsman

Quick meaning: Headsman is a noun meaning An executioner whose method of dispatching the condemned is decapitation.

Meaning

An executioner whose method of dispatching the condemned is decapitation.

More Meanings

1. (nautical) One in command of a whaling vessel.
2. (mining, historical) A labourer in a colliery who transports the coal from the workings to the horseway, and who is oftentimes assisted by a younger worker called a foal.
3. (obsolete or Scotland) A chief person; a head man

Example Sentences

And made him Headsman, for we said, / "Who's next to be decapited / Cannot cut off another's head / Until he's cut his own off[…]"

And of those base-minded jesters or buffons, some have beene seene, that even at the point of death would never leave their jesting and scoffing. He whom the heads-man threw off from the Gallowes cried out, ‘Row the Gally,’ which was his ordinarie by-word.

Word Forms

• headsmen

Synonyms for headsman

Depending on context, synonyms include beheader, decapitator, headman.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include headman, headling, headmanship, headmaster, headship, chief.

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