behead, v.
(bɪˈhɛd)
Forms: 1 behéafdi-an, 2 behæfdien, 2–3 bihaued-en, 3 biheafdin, bihafdi, 3–4 bihefden, 4 biheueden, 4–5 behevede(n, bi-, byhede(n, -heede, 4–6 behede, -heede, 5–6 be-, byhedde, 6 beheadde, 6– behead.
[OE. behéafdi-an, f. be- 3 (with privative force) + héafod head; cf. MHG. behoubeten in same sense, mod.G. enthaupten.]
1. trans. To deprive (a man or animal) of the head, to decapitate; to kill by cutting off the head.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xiv. 10 He asende þa and beheafdode Iohannem. c 1160 Hatton G. ibid., behæfdede. 1205 Lay. 26296 Þat heo us wulle bihafdi. a 1225 Juliana 40 To bihefden [v.r. beheafdin] pawel. 1382 Wyclif Matt. xiv. 10 He sente, and bihedide [v.r. byheuedede] Joon in the prisoun. c 1450 Lonelich Grail xlvii. 155 Beheveded on aftyr anothir. 1474 Caxton Chesse 36 Other said that they shold be beheded. 1513 More Rich. III Wks. 54/1 To bee byhedded at Pountfreit. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 102 Take him away and behead him. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. II. xlvi. 719 A great number of the captives were beheaded. 1873 H. Spencer Stud. Sociol. vii. 156 We beheaded 2000 fellahs, throwing their headless corpses into the Nile. |
| fig. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. iv. xiv. §7 To repair the decays thereof by beheading superstition. 1726 M. Henry Wks. II. 370 It adds to our grief to see a family beheaded. |
2. Of things: To deprive of the top or foremost part.
rare.
| 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 271 Maister Heskins beheadeth the sentence. 1796 Marshall Garden. §20 (1813) 400 Graffs of last year, cut to a few eyes, behead as at 98. Mod. Beheaded and curtailed words. |