The breaking wheel, also known as the Catherine wheel or simply the wheel, was a torture device used for capital punishment in the Middle Ages and early modern times for public execution by bludgeoning to death. It was used during the Middle Ages and was still in use into the 19th century.
Read more about Breaking Wheel: Description and Uses, Metaphorical Uses, Coats of Arms With Catherine Wheels, Gallery
Famous quotes containing the words breaking and/or wheel:
“[T]here is no breaking out of the intentional vocabulary by explaining its members in other terms.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)
“Let the wheel spin out,
Till all created things
With shout and answering shout
Cast off rememberings....”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)