cucking stool
nounEtymology
From about 1215. Origin uncertain. The variant ducking stool is a later (from 1597) corruption. The meaning of cuck here may be a long obsolete nursery word for feces, as reflected in Old English cac, defying sound changes as have words like Mama and Papa. The chair was once described as Latin cathedra stercoris; why, though, this punishment should have this name has not been convincingly explained.
- derived from cathedra stercoris; why
- derived from cac
Definitions
A kind of chair to which a person (such as a scold or dishonest tradesman) was fastened…
A kind of chair to which a person (such as a scold or dishonest tradesman) was fastened in order to be punished and socially humiliated, usually by being pelted and hooted at by a mob in front of their own house, but sometimes being taken to water and ducked.
- […] while in the same breath the Fleming exclaimed, “Beware the cucking-stool, Dame Scant o' Grace,” while he conducted the noble youth across the court.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for cucking stool. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA