Bastinade

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A severe form of corporal punishment in which the soles of the feet are struck with a stick ; the rod or cane used to deliver such blows
2. Striking the bare feet repeatedly with a cudgel as a method of torture or discipline ; the stick employed for this kind of beating
3. Caning the soles of a person's feet as a penalty ; a flexible rod used to administer that punishment

Etymology: The bastinade is a punishment in which the soles of the feet are beaten with a stick, a practice associated with the Ottoman and wider Middle Eastern world. Its name arrived in English by way of French "bastonnade," a word built from "baston," meaning a stick or cudgel, with the suffix "-ade" attached to denote a blow or the action of striking. The French term, in turn, grew out of the same stem as the English word "baton," so the punishment is named, quite literally, for a beating with a rod.

Synonyms: bastinado, falaka