A method of execution by strangulation, or the wire or cord used to perform it, historically used in Spain and Spanish America.
From Spanish 'garrote,' ultimately from an unclear origin possibly related to 'garra' (claw) or a Germanic source. The word entered English in the 16th-17th centuries through contact with Spanish practices.
The garrote represented such an infamous execution method that some European cities passed laws against it, yet the word itself became so embedded in English that it also evolved to mean any robbery by strangulation—language preserving dark historical practices.
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