The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, used during the medieval and renaissance periods for punishment by public …

In days gone by, criminals who got caught might well have found themselves in the stocks (which held the feet or both feet and hands) or a pillory. Both of those forms of punishment—and the words that …

The pillory and the stocks were among the most familiar sights of public punishment in medieval and early modern Europe. Unlike the elaborate torture devices that fill modern imagination, these were …

PILLORY definition: a wooden framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used to expose an offender to public derision. See examples of pillory used in a sentence.

Oct 31, 2025 · When asked what was the pillory used for, historians answer plainly: to punish through shame. Thieves, liars, fraudsters, and blasphemers stood locked within its boards, heads and hands …

The pillory, also known as the pillory stocks, was a form of punishment in which offenders were held in a public place for public humiliation and ridicule. It consisted of a wooden framework with holes for the …

A pillory is a wooden frame with holes for the head and hands. In Europe in former times criminals were sometimes locked in a pillory as a form of punishment. Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s …

Pillory, an instrument of corporal punishment consisting of a wooden post and frame fixed on a platform raised several feet from the ground. The head and hands of the offender were thrust through holes in …

Most European countries abolished stocks and pillories by the middle of the 19th century, as did most American states. Except for Delaware, which was reluctant to abandon the pillory until 1905. In …

Jan 31, 2026 · Noun pillory (plural pillories) A framework on a post, with holes for the hands and head, used as a means of punishment and humiliation.