decapitate

From French décapiter, from Late Latin decapitare, from de- + caput.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈkap.ɪt.eɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /diˈkæp.ə.teɪt/, /diˈkæp.ɪ.teɪt/, /dɪ-/, /də-/

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decapitate (third-person singular simple present decapitates, present participle decapitating, simple past and past participle decapitated)

1. (transitive, literal) To remove the head of.
   • 1937, Technology Review, volume 40, page 100:

     One machine in which Mr. Taylor takes special pride is a salmon canner, which engulfs a whole salmon, decapitates and decaudates it, skins it, blows out its viscera, cuts it into pieces, deposits them in the can, sterilizes them […]

   • 1993, William S. Burroughs, Esquire‎^[1], volume 120, page 78:

     The hippie wasn't wearing any shoes. January in Boston and he's in sandals, standing there screaming, “Look what she did! Look what the crazy fucking bitch did!” --like it was my pleasure to risk decapitating myself by slamming through the hippiemobile.

   • 2013, “Accident: 202674701 - Worker Paving Airstrip Is Struck By Airplane And Decapitated”, in Occupational Safety and Health Administration‎^[2], archived from the original on 15 July 2022:

     Employee #1 was in the center of the runway, working alone approximately 300 feet from the end that led to the plane loading area and hangars. A pilot flying an airplane, Schweizer Aircraft Corporation Model G-164 B, approached the airstrip from the opposite end and landed. As the pilot taxied the plane toward the hangar, the plane's propeller struck Employee #1 in the head and decapitated him.

2. (transitive, figurative) To oust or destroy the leadership or ruling body of (a government etc.).
   • December 7 2022, Simon Shuster, “2022 Person of the Year: Volodymyr Zelensky”, in Time‎^[3]:

     The Russian goal at the start of the invasion had been to kill or capture Zelensky and decapitate his government.

• behead
• decollate

• recapitate

• guillotine

decapitate

1. second-person plural present and imperative of decapitare

decapitate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of decapitar combined with te