estrapade

English

Etymology

From French estrapade.

Noun

estrapade (plural estrapades)

1. The rearing, plunging, and kicking actions of a horse trying to get rid of its rider.
   • 2001, Gerard Woodward, August, W. W. Norton, published 2008, page 175:

     Then one day she went riding on her favourite horse, Coco, without a helmet, and Kwango, her prize borzoi, leapt out in front of her, causing Coco to perform an estrapade which sent Vivienne flying and falling, landing head first on the concrete drive, killing her instantly.

2. A form of torture in which the victim is suspended on a rope that is attached to a pulley, over a fire and repeatedly let down close to the flames and hauled up away from them, in order to prolong the suffering.
   • 1904, Joseph Conrad, Nostromo, Chapter 8:

     He did not want to look at the rigid legs, at the feet hanging down nervelessly, with their bare toes some six inches above the floor, to know that the man had been given the estrapade till he had swooned.

Anagrams

• asperated, date rapes, paederast, pæderast, separated

French

Etymology

From Italian strappada.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛs.tʁa.pad/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

estrapade f (plural estrapades)

1. strappado, a torture or punishment technique where the victim is tied at a pole which is dropped from a considerable height to just above the soil; aboard a vessel, the victim is dipped into the sea
2. mast or other contraption constructed for such torturous treatment
3. gymnastic exercise, where the athlete hangs from a rope and passes the rest of the body in between both arms

Further reading

• “estrapade”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• dérapâtes