noun
pl. -·men an executioner who beheads those condemned to die
Origin of headsman
Middle English heddysman from heddys, hefdes (gen. of hede, heved, head) + manheadsman
heads·manWebster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"headsman." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/headsman>.
APA Style
headsman. (n.d.). Retrieved December 17th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/headsman
headsman
noun
An executioner, especially one who executes by beheading.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"headsman." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/headsman>.
APA Style
headsman. (n.d.). Retrieved December 17th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/headsman
Noun
(plural headsmen)
- An executioner whose method of dispatching the condemned is decapitation.
- 1885 — Gilbert & Sullivan, The Mikado
- 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[....]"
Origin
From head’s + man.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"headsman." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/headsman>.
APA Style
headsman. (n.d.). Retrieved December 17th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/headsman
