pillory

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pillory

verb accuse, asperse, attaint, befoul, belittle, berate, besmear, besmirch, bespatter, blacken, blot, brand, bring shame upon, calumniate, cast a slur upon, cast asperrions on, cause a scandal, damage a reputation, debase, defame, defile, degrade, denigrate, denounce, destroy a reputation, discredit, disgrace, dishonor, disparage, expose to infamy, gibbet, give a bad name, hold up to ridicule, hold up to shame, impute shame to, lampoon, laugh at, lower, make fun of, malign, mock, put in a bad light, put to shame, ridicule, run down, scandalize, scorn, smear, smirch, soil, spatter, speak ill of, stain, stigmatize, sully, taint, tarnish, traduce, vilify, vituperate

PILLORY, punishment. wooden machine in which the neck of the culprit is inserted.
2. This punishment has been superseded by the adoption of the penitentiary system in most of the states. Vide 1 Chit. Cr. Law, 797. The punishment of standing in the pillory, so far as the same was provided by the laws of the United States, was abolished by the act of congress of February 27, 1839, s. 5. See Baxr. on the Stat. 48, note.

References in periodicals archive ?

All this, of course, was justice being seen to be done, and the pillory and stocks were always placed in the most prominent location in town, in the market place or next to the town hall.

The Birmingham pillory, long since lost, stood next to the Welch Cross in the middle of the High Street, while the stocks were situated outside, and later inside, the Public Office in Moor Street.

The Coleshill Indeed, a letter to the Birmingham Journal in October 1838 complained of the survival of a form of punishment which was "degrading and outdated", but expressed satisfaction that there was not also a pillory in the town, as there was at Coleshill and at Warwick.

Pillory The offender would be whipped, as well as pelted with objects, before being released.

Of course, the success of the pillory depended upon the participation of a baying mob; not every offender was so abused.

Petty criminals given a stock punishment; Chris Upton looks back at an age when townsfolk were invited to throw rotten eggs and fruit at offenders

The hardened protagonist of the poem, the Pillory itself, is introduced to readers, through the opening salutation, "Hail

Most intriguingly, A Hymn to the Pillory possesses the same narrative structure as Defoe's novels (with the notable exception of The Fortunate Mistress, also known as Roxana (1724)).

However, somehow, the Pillory has been separated from Law and Justice, undoubtedly kidnapped by certain special interests, and it falls into evil ways, doing the bidding of specific "Parties" (26), becoming increasingly hardened to a life of crime; its true nature, its original upright character, has been perverted and inverted.

In its debased state, the Pillory proves itself to be a mere masquerader, a pretender to Law and Justice, suggesting the false nature of the entire English judicial, legal, and penal systems.

The Pillory, falsely standing in for Law and Justice, presides over a counterfeit courtroom.

Defoe's poetic reformation: from poem to novel, from pillory to penitentiary

It also gave the class bashers a brilliant chance to pillory him for owning a posh bread-maker and buying expensive flour.

Cameron DJ uses his loaf

The length of the stay in the pillory varied, but could last for several hours or even days.

On this day: 1837: Parliament abolished use of the pillory:

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