blood eagle

noun, verb — 2 senses

blood eagle

nounalso spelled blood-eagle
1

A method of Viking ritual execution, in which the ribs are opened from the back, and the lungs pulled out and arranged to resemble wings.

  • Blood eagle Blood eagle is the destroyer Blood eagle will set the wicked free Rip the body from the bone now Spread the heavens' wings Show Valhalla glory and memory Let ‘em, let ‘em Let the Christians sing2019, “Blood Eagle”, performed by Periphery:
Derived terms
blood-eagle

blood-eagle

verb
1

To execute by blood eagle.

  • Of the ships and the stockade nothing remained but hot cinders. Half the guard were dead, and old Arnwulf, the captain, lay blood-eagled on the edge of the tide. The others had gone they knew not where, but doubtless into the forests.1921, John Buchan, The Path of the King, New York: George H. Doran, page 31:
  • He stood with one hand twisted in Garm's collar, Wave-flame naked in the other, looking down at the torn and broken body of his foster-father, that had even yet something of unbreakable defiance about it; and his face was a white mask in the torchlight. "It may be that it will not be given to me to blood-eagle this Red King with my own hands, Ari Fostri, but nevertheless, I will repay the debt due to Normandy; I will repay it in full measure and running over."1956, Rosemary Sutcliff, The Shield Ring, Front Street, published 2007, →ISBN, page 58:
1 more example
  • It had been a long while since Hunt had seen anyone blood-eagled.2022, Sarah J. Maas, House of Sky and Breath, New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 562:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for blood eagle and blood-eagle.