Past tense of garrote; strangled or executed someone using a wire, cord, or device around the neck.
From Spanish garrote (a method of execution), possibly from Iberian languages. The term entered English in the 16th century and refers to the Spanish execution method that used a metal collar tightened by a screw.
Spain's garrote vil was a method of capital punishment so feared that it became synonymous with sudden, brutal strangulation—the word itself became a weapon in people's minds long before the device was ever used.
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