Garrote

Cord, frequently a guitar string or fishing line with handles attached, used to quickly wrap around a person's neck and strangulate them.

Most easily foiled by a well-applied pair of thumbs raised to the neck just in time.

A painful method of torture favored by the Spanish Inquisition.

First, a prisoner was tied to a rack, then ropes were tied around his arms and legs. The rope was slowly squeezed tighter and tighter until it ate through the skin and through layers of muscle, eventually digging through to the bone.

Anyone left tied up long enough would get gangrene and blood poisoning -- if they were unfortunate enough to survive.

A Garotte in current terms is an tool used in garotting, a very personal torture and ultimately execution if the perpetrator intends. In General it takes time and foresight to set up and is used to prove thay are in control, Unlike strangulation which is used to kill/silence a victim. In most cases of Homicide involving garotting the neck is usually close to being severed.

A garotte can be simple to make with a with a pen and a piece of thin electrical cable, the most important aspect of the construction is that the cable must not stretch and must have control to apply tension in small amounts.

Gar*rote" (?), n. [Sp. garrote, from garra claw, talon, of Celtic origin; cf. Armor. & W. gar leg, ham, shank. Cf. Garrot stick, Garter.]

A Spanish mode of execution by strangulation, with an iron collar affixed to a post and tightened by a screw until life become extinct; also, the instrument by means of which the punishment is inflicted.

 

© Webster 1913.

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Gar*rote", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Garroted; p. pr. & vb. n. Garroting.]

To strangle with the garrote; hence, to seize by the throat, from behind, with a view to strangle and rob.

 

© Webster 1913.