guil•lo•tine
Pronunciation: (gil'u-t?n", g?'u- esp. for v. gil"u-t?n', g?"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.