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Drawn
Hanged, drawn, and quartered, or Drawn, hanged, and
quartered. The question turns on the meaning of drawn. The evidence
seems to be that traitors were drawn to the place of execution, then
hanged, then
“drawn” or disembowelled, and then quartered. Thus the sentence on
Sir William Wallace was that he should be drawn (detrahatur)
from the Palace of Westminster to the Tower, etc., then hanged (suspendatur), then disembowelled or drawn (devaletur), then
beheaded and quartered (decolletur et decapitetur). (See Notes and Queries, August 15th, 1891.)
If by “drawn” is meant conveyed to the place of execution, the
phrase should be “Drawn, hanged, and quartered;” but if the word is
used as a synonym of disembowelled, the phrase should be “Hanged,
drawn, and quartered.”
“Lord Ellenborough used to say to those condemned. `You are drawn on
hurdles to the place of execution, where you are to be hanged, but
not till you are dead; for, while still living, your body is to be
taken down, your bowels torn out and burnt before your face; your head
is then cut off, and your body divided into four quarters.” —Gentleman's Magazine, 1803, part i. pp. 177,275.
Drawn Battle A battle in which the troops on both sides are drawn off, neither combatants claiming the victory.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Drawn from Infoplease:
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