What is guillotine?

Guillotine definition, a device for beheading a person by means of a heavy blade that is dropped between two posts serving as guides: widely used during the French Revolution. See more. read more

A guillotine (/ ˈ ɡ ɪ l ə t iː n /; French: ) is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame in which a weighted and angled blade is raised to the top and suspended. read more

The guillotine, which used a large falling knife blade, was devised by a physician, Joseph Guillotin, during the French Revolution and was used as the official method of execution in France until the twentieth century. read more

Gradually the device became known as the guillotine as it became associated with the man who had advocated it as a humane instrument of capital punishment. The surgical instrument known as the guillotine is so called because it features a similar sliding-blade action. read more