bastinado

English

Alternative forms

• bastinade
• bastonade

Etymology

From Spanish bastonada (compare French bastonnade), from baston (“a stick or staff”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɑːdəʊ

Noun

bastinado (plural bastinadoes)

1. A blow with a cudgel or stick.
   • c. 1607–1621 (date written), [Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger], The Tragedy of Thierry King of France, and His Brother Theodoret. […], London: […] [Nicholas Okes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1621, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, signature E, recto:

     [H]e is Sir / The moſt vnutterable covvard, that ere nature / Bleſt vvith hard ſhoulders, vvhich vvere only giuen him, / To the ruine of baſtinados.

2. Beating the bare soles of the feet with a stick as a form of corporal punishment used primarily within prisons in various countries. The receiving person is required to be barefoot.

Verb

bastinado (third-person singular simple present bastinadoes, present participle bastinadoing, simple past and past participle bastinadoed)

1. (transitive) To punish a person by beating the bare soles of the feet, using a stick or truncheon.

References

• “bastinado”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.