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Punishing a common scold in the ducking stool. In the common law of crime in England and Wales, a common scold was a type of public nuisance—a troublesome and angry person who broke the public peace by habitually chastising, arguing, and quarrelling with their neighbours. Most punished for scolding were women, though men could be found to be ...
Johnson's 18th-century definition was: "A clamourous, rude, mean, low, foul-mouthed woman", suggesting a level of vulgarity and a class distinction from the more generalised shrew, but this nuance has been lost. [26] In Johnson's time, the word formed part of a legal term, common scold which referred to rude and brawling women see below. [27]
Ducking stools or cucking stools were chairs formerly used for punishment of disorderly women, scolds, and dishonest tradesmen in medieval Europe [1] and elsewhere at later times. [2] The ducking-stool was a form of wymen pine , or "women's punishment", as referred to in Langland's Piers Plowman (1378).
Scalding is a form of thermal burn resulting from heated fluids such as boiling water or steam. Most scalds are considered first- or second-degree burns, but third-degree burns can result, especially with prolonged contact.
From a reader: "The other day my 5-year-old son and I were at a playground attached to a restaurant.He quickly complained that a group of three little boys around his age were being mean, and ...
The Old High German variant stem skeltan, etymologically identical to the skald-stem (Proto-Germanic: *skeldan), means "to scold, blame, accuse, insult". The person doing the insulting is a skelto or skeltāri. The West Germanic counterpart of the skald is the scop.
A scold's bridle, sometimes called a witch's bridle, a gossip's bridle, a brank's bridle, or simply branks, [1] was an instrument of punishment, as a form of public humiliation. [2] It was an iron muzzle in an iron framework that enclosed the head (although some bridles were masks that depicted suffering).
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