[a. Fr. estrapade (cf. Sp. estrapada), ad. It. strappata, f. strappare to pull tight; app. of Teut. origin; cf. Ger. (Swiss) strapfen to draw, Ger. straff drawn tight.]
1. The attempt of a horse to get rid of his rider by rearing and kicking.
1730–6. in Bailey (folio).
1828. in Webster. In mod. Dicts.
2. Hist. A torture consisting in attaching a person’s hands and feet to a rope, drawing him up by them to a great height, and then letting him fall suddenly; = STRAPPADO.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng., I. 404. He [Francis] could ill afford to forsake a religion which allowed him so pleasantly to compound for his amatory indulgences by the estrapade. Ibid. (1858), I. v. 423. The estrapade was an infernal machine introduced by Francis into Paris for the better correction of heresy.
