Strappado \Strap*pa"do\, n.; pl. {Strappadoes}. [It. strappata a
pull, the strappado, from strappare to pull, from Prov. G.
strapfen: cf. G. straff tense, stretched.]
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. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]