behead

• POS: Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: be=head

CIDE DICTIONARY

behead, v. t. [OE. bihefden, AS. beheáfdian; pref. be- + heáfod head. See Head.].

 To sever the head from; to take off the head of.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

behead, v.tr.
1 cut off the head of (a person), esp. as a form of execution.
2 kill by beheading.

Etymology

OE beheafdian (as BE-, heafod HEAD)

ROGET THESAURUS

behead

Punishment

VB punish, chastise, chasten, castigate, correct, inflict punishment, administer correction, deal retributive justice, cowhide, lambaste, visit upon, pay, pay out, serve out, do for, make short work of, give a lesson to, serve one right, make an example of, have a rod in pickle for, give it one, strike, deal a blow to, administer the lash, smite, slap, slap the face, smack, cuff, box the ears, spank, thwack, thump, beat, lay on, swinge, buffet, thresh, thrash, pummel, drub, leather, trounce, sandbag, baste, belabor, lace, lace one's jacket, dress, dress down, give a dressing, trim, warm, wipe, tund, cob, bang, strap, comb, lash, lick, larrup, wallop, whop, flog, scourge, whip, birch, cane, give the stick, switch, flagellate, horsewhip, bastinado, towel, rub down with an oaken towel, rib roast, dust one's jacket, fustigate, pitch into, lay about one, beat black and blue, beat to a mummy, beat to a jelly, give a black eye, tar and feather, pelt, stone, lapidate, masthead, keelhaul, execute, bring to the block, bring to the gallows, behead, decapitate, guillotine, decollate, hang, turn off, gibbet, bowstring, hang draw and quarter, shoot, decimate, burn, break on the wheel, crucify, empale, impale, flay, lynch, electrocute, gas, send to the gas chamber, torture, put on, put to the rack, picket, banish, exile, transport, expel, ostracize, rusticate, drum out, dismiss, disbar, disbench, strike off the roll, unfrock, post, suffer, suffer for, suffer punishment, be flogged, be executed, suffer the ultimate penalty, be hanged, come to the gallows, mount the gallows, swing, twist in the wind, dance upon nothing, die in one's shoes, be rightly served, be electrocuted, fry, ride the lightning, face the firing squad.

Killing

VB kill, put to death, slay, shed blood, murder, assassinate, butcher, slaughter, victimize, immolate, massacre, take away life, deprive of life, make away with, put an end to, despatch, dispatch, burke, settle, do for, strangle, garrote, hang, throttle, choke, stifle, suffocate, stop the breath, smother, asphyxiate, drown, saber, cut down, cut to pieces, cut the throat, jugulate, stab, run through the body, bayonet, eviscerate, put to the sword, put to the edge of the sword, shoot dead, blow one's brains out, brain, knock on the head, stone, lapidate, give a deathblow, deal a deathblow, give a quietus, give a coupe de grace, behead, bowstring, electrocute, gas, hunt, shoot, cut off, nip in the bud, launch into eternity, send to one's last account, sign one's death warrant, strike the death knell of, give no quarter, pour out blood like water, decimate, run amuck, wade knee deep in blood, imbrue one's hands in blood, die a violent death, welter in one's blood, dash out one's brains, blow out one's brains, commit suicide, kill oneself, make away with oneself, put an end to oneself, put an end to it all.