Louis XVI was beheaded in 1793.
Mary, Queen of Scots, was beheaded for plotting against Queen Elizabeth.
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According to psychiatrist interviews conducted with his younger sister, Allyn, Kemper cut the hands off of her doll, beheaded and dismembered the family cat, and fantasized about executions and gas chambers.—Lynsey Eidell, People.com, 28 Aug. 2025 France returned three human skulls to Madagascar, including one believed to be that of a king beheaded by French colonial forces during a 19th century massacre.—Prashant Rao, semafor.com, 28 Aug. 2025 France has returned three skulls to Madagascar more than a century after they were taken, including one believed to be that of a 19th-century Malagasy king who was beheaded by French troops.—Amarachi Orie, CNN Money, 27 Aug. 2025 Less than four months later, Anne Boleyn was beheaded.—Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 27 Aug. 2025 All of the workers who are playing the elves have either been killed in horrible ways or beheaded, and their heads are used as tree toppers, and their intestines are strung on the Christmas trees.—Simon Thompson, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2025 Papa Grant has his bladier searched, beaten and ultimately beheaded for the betrayal.—Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 8 Aug. 2025 The jihadist groups have been accused of beheading villagers and kidnapping children to be used as laborers or child soldiers.—Danielle Wallace, FOXNews.com, 7 Aug. 2025 The panel depicts two moments in the life of St. Denis—his final communion in prison and his martyrdom by beheading—unfolding underneath a gaudy crucifixion beaming with seraphim.—Jon Raymond
august 5, Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2025
Word History
First Known Use
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of behead was
before the 12th century
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