The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for

punishment Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or individual, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a response and deterrent to a particular a ...

public humiliation Public humiliation or public shaming is a form of punishment whose main feature is dishonoring or disgracing a person, usually an offender or a prisoner, especially in a public place. It was regularly used as a form of judicially sanctioned pun ...

and often further physical abuse. The pillory is related to the

stocks Stocks are feet restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law describing ...

Etymology

The word is documented in English since 1274 (attested in Anglo-Latin from ), and stems from

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligi ...

(1168;

modern French French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some Europe ...

, see below), itself from

medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin Classical Latin is the form of Literary Latin recognized as a Literary language, literary standard language, standard by writers of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. It was used f ...

, of uncertain origin, perhaps a diminutive of Latin 'pillar, stone barrier'.

Description

Rather like the lesser punishment called the

, the pillory consisted of hinged wooden boards forming holes through which the head and/or various limbs