guil•lo•tine
Pronunciation: (gil'u-tēn", gē'u- esp. for v. gil"u-tēn', gē"u-), [key] — n., v., -tined, -tin•ing.
—n. - 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.
- an instrument for surgically removing the tonsils.
- any of various machines in which a vertical blade between two parallel uprights descends to cut or trim metal, stacks of paper, etc.
—v.t. - to behead by the guillotine.
- to cut with or as if with a guillotine.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.