( n. )
A military punishment formerly practiced, which consisted in drawing an offender to the top of a beam and letting him fall to the length of the rope, by which means a limb was often dislocated.
( n. )
A military punishment formerly practiced, which consisted in drawing an offender to the top of a beam and letting him fall to the length of the rope, by which means a limb was often dislocated.
Webster's Revised Unabridged English Dictionary. Пересмотренный полный словарь английского языка Webster. 2012