= quick and complete severance of head and body, "beheading" In Germany legally used for slaughter of poultry in single cases on farm and - for chicken, guinea fowl, pidgeons and quail - also at the abattoir (to prevent birds that missed the stun to bleed while fully conscious)
The act of beheading a person, usually instantly such as with a large and heavy knife or by guillotine, as a form of capital punishment This form of capital punishment is still in use in some Arab countries, notably Saudi Arabia
If someone is decapitated, their head is cut off. A worker was decapitated when a lift plummeted down the shaft on top of him + decapitation decapitations de·capi·ta·tion executions by decapitation. to cut off someone's head (decapitatus, from caput )