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Peine Forte et Dure

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A species of torture applied to contumacious felons. In the reign of Henri IV. the accused was pressed to death by weights; in later reigns the practice prevailed of tying the thumbs tightly together with whipcord, to induce the accused to plead. The following persons were pressed to death by weights:—Juliana Quick, in 1442; Anthony Arrowsmith, in 1598; Walter Calverly, in 1605; Major Strangways, in 1657; and even in 1741 a person was pressed to death at the Cambridge assizes. Abolished 1772.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Peep
Peep-o-Day Boys
Peeping Tom of Coventry
Peerage of the Apostles
Peers of the Realm
Peg or Peggy
Peg too Low (A)
Pegasos (Greek; Pegasus, Latin)
Pegg (Katharine)
Pegging Away (Keep)
Peine Forte et Dure
Pelagianism
Pelagius
Pelf
Pelias
Pelican
Pelides
Pelion
Pell-mell
Pellean Conqueror
Pelleas (Sir)