garroter
nounEtymology From garrote + -er.
1
A person who uses a garrote.
2
A person who strangles someone from behind.
- The digestion of evil aroused in him an appetite for worse. It was the street boy turned pickpocket, and a pickpocket turned garroter.1887, Isabel F. Hapgood, transl., Les Misérables, translation of original by Victor Hugo:
- “Because I recognized their sentinel when I glanced out of my window. He is a harmless enough fellow, Parker by name, a garroter by trade, and a remarkable performer upon the jew’s-harp.1903 September 26, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Empty House”, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., published February 1905, →OCLC: