electric chair
47
5.3
- noun
- /ɪˈlɛktrɪk tʃɛr/
- NSFW
:
silla eléctrica
- Gentlemen of the jury, it is your sacred duty to put this man where he belongs, in the electric chair.
So he does the first actual electric chair execution, but it goes wrong.
- So he does the first actual electric chair execution, but it goes wrong.
- One last good meal before you hit that electric chair.
- Trump's so upset, those two turkeys the president usually pardons have gone straight to the electric chair.
Examples
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They've got me strapped in this electric chair!
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All three defendants had pleaded guilty and all had been sentenced to the electric chair.
Fiction book (1990) -
If anyone can keep him out of the electric chair, it's you.
Fiction book (1997) -
If they find this one, they ought to send him to the electric chair.
Fiction book (1998) -
If he is found guilty, he'll get the electric chair.
Fiction book (1999) -
He died in the electric chair at the Florida State Prison.
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Fred Madison, the jury having found you guilty of murder in the first degree, it is my order that you be put to death in the electric chair.
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The eyes of the nation are on Metro City as these sadistic siblings await side-by-side seats in the electric chair.
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The prisoner was sentenced to die in the electric chair after being convicted of murder.
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In some states, the electric chair is still used as a method of execution for serious crimes.
Synonyms
73
9.9
A seat used to kill a person with electricity
A chair that kills a person by electricity
A chair used to kill a person with electricity
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is transparently built from 'electric' + 'chair' so a learner will readily infer 'a chair that uses electricity'. However, the conventionalized, culturally specific sense 'a chair used to execute someone by electrocution' goes beyond simple composition and may not be fully predictable to a B1 learner without exposure, so the expression is only partly transparent.
Etymology
The noun electric chair comes from a real chair with wires that carried electric current through a person. Because people were put to death while sitting in that chair, the phrase now means 'a method of execution'.