ACONITE: A most formidable poison. It comes from all parts of the plant belonging to the family Ranunculaceae, but especially the root. The smallest portion of either root or leaves, when first put into the mouth, occasions burning and tingling, and a sense of numbness immediately follows its continuance. Also referred to as monkshood or wolfsbane.

CHASTITY BELT: A locking item of clothing designed to prevent sexual intercourse. The chastity belt was widely used in Italy and later on it spread to France during the XV century. Historians state the chastity belt was used prevent women from being raped while their husbands were away at battle.

CUTTIE STOOL: A type of three-legged chair used in Scotland. It was a short stool, often having a round seat on the top, but the word also designates a larger piece of furniture associated with public penance in church.

DIRK: A long, straight dagger.

DUNKING STOOL: A form of water torture, the dunking stool was used to torture women. She was bound to a stool or chair and lowered into the river repeatedly. The rapid descent into cold water caused fatalities among older victims.

GALLOWS: An apparatus for inflicting the punishment of death by hanging, usually consisting of two uprights and a cross-piece, from which the criminal is suspended by a rope around the neck.

DUCAT: A gold coin of varying value, formerly in use in most European countries. Equivalent to about 9 shillings, 4 pence.

GROAT: Former silver coin, used from the 14th to the 17th century. Used later as Maundy Money. Equivalent to 4 pence, or 1/3 of a shilling.

HUNG, DRAWN, AND QUARTERED: It is considered by many to be the epitome of cruel punishment, and was reserved for treason as this crime was deemed more heinous than murder and other capital offenses. The prisoner was hung, cut down alive, members and bowels extracted, then decapitated and body quartered. The punishment abolished in 1790.

KNOUT: A wooden handled whip with braided thongs used to whip a prisoner. Whipping was recognized as a death penalty, with the executioner skilled at dislocating the victim’s neck.

MAWMENNY: A dish composed of meat, usually ground chicken or capon, in a spiced sauce.

PEINE FORTE ET DURE: Pressing to death. A form of torture delivered upon a cell floor and used on a prisoner who refused to plead. A board was placed across the prisoner's chest and stomach and heavy iron weights were added to the board until submission or death. For 366 years pressing to death was a standard punishment in England until 1772.

PILLORY: A device for punishment, usually consisting of a wooden framework mounted on a post, with holes or rings for trapping the head and hands, in which an offender was confined so as to be subjected to public ridicule, abuse, assault, etc. In Great Britain the punishment of the pillory was abolished, except for perjury and subordination after 1816, and totally in 1837. In Delaware, U.S., it was not abolished till 1905.

PLAIDE: A crossbarred or checkered cloth associated with Celtic countries, especially Scotland, and often worn as a garment.

PORTCULLIS: A heavy iron grating suspended by chains and lowered between grooves to bar the gateway of a castle or fortified town.

THE RACK: The rack consists of an oblong rectangular, usually wooden frame, slightly raised from the ground, with a roller at one, or both, ends, having at one end a fixed bar to which the legs were fastened, and at the other a movable bar to which the hands were tied. The prisoner was then stretched as a means of obtaining confessions.

SCAFFOLD: A temporary framework used to support people. A raised wooden dais.

SGIAN DUBH: A Scottish knife that is worn on the calf of the leg (tucked into the sock). The name comes from the Gaelic meaning “black knife”, where “black” may refer to the usual color of the handle of the knife. It is also suggested that “black” means secret, or hidden, as in the word blackmail.

STOCKS: A cousin to the pillory, the stocks comprised of two parallel wooden boards encasing the ankles. The prisoner sat on a bench or stool with his legs outstretched and was subject to public ridicule. One of the worst aspects of being confined to the stocks was the continual tickling of the bottoms of the feet.