behead
verb/bɪˈhɛd/ · /bəˈhɛd/
Etymology From Middle English beheden, bihefden, biheveden, from Old English behēafdian (“to behead”), equivalent to be- (“off, away”) + head.
1
To deliberately remove the head of; to cut off (someone's) head.
- “For a while it was hand-to-hand between us, then blood went curling along the currents and I beheaded Grendel's mother in the hall with a mighty sword.”]1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 68:
- Synonyms
- decapitate, decollate