guillotine

n. a machine used in the past for killing people by cutting off their heads with a heavy blade.

n. a device designed for carrying out capital punishment by decapitation, consisting of a tall upright frame and a suspended weighted blade.

“The guillotine was famously used during the French Revolution.”

“Historians often cite the introduction of the guillotine as an attempt to make capital punishment more humane and egalitarian during the Reign of Terror.”

n. a tool with a long blade used for cutting large stacks of paper or metal in a straight line.

n. a mechanical apparatus equipped with a heavy blade for trimming or cutting materials such as paper, card, or sheet metal.

“Be careful when using the paper guillotine in the office so you don't cut your fingers.”

“The print shop installed a heavy-duty industrial guillotine capable of slicing through five hundred sheets of bond paper in a single stroke.”

n. a rule in government that sets a fixed time for a debate to end so a vote can happen.

n. a parliamentary procedure used to fix a time limit for the consideration of a bill, effectively curtailing further debate.

“The government used the guillotine to ensure the new law passed before the holiday.”

“The opposition protested the use of the guillotine, arguing that such a strict timetable prevented adequate scrutiny of the proposed tax reforms.”

British English · Informal

v. to cut something with a blade, or to end a plan or discussion very suddenly.

v. to decapitate using a guillotine, or figuratively, to terminate a process or debate with abrupt finality.

“The project was guillotined after the company lost its main investor.”

“The board of directors decided to guillotine the research programme, citing a lack of viable commercial applications for the current prototypes.”

Formal