Bastonada

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A form of corporal punishment in which the soles of the feet are struck with a stick or cane ; a beating delivered with a club or cudgel as a means of punishment
2. An ancient and cruel method of punishing offenders by whipping the bare soles of their feet ; a caning or thrashing administered with a heavy stick
3. Corporal punishment inflicted by repeated blows to the underside of the feet ; a severe beating carried out with a wooden staff or cudgel

Etymology: Before it named a punishment, this word meant a blow from a stick. It comes from Spanish "bastonada", formed from "bastón", a staff or cane, with the suffix "-ada" marking a blow delivered with the object. The Spanish stick word is related to Italian "bastone", and its deeper source is uncertain, though a Latin word for a pack-saddle is often proposed. English took the noun as a loan from Spanish or French "bastonnade", so it has no classical ancestry. The punishment it names, striking the soles of the bare feet, is most closely associated with the Ottoman and Persian courts, which is why the term is so strongly tied to the Near East in many readers' minds.

Synonyms: bastinado, bastinade