An obsolete instrument of punishment for centuries in use all over Europe, consisted of a platform, an upright pole, and at a convenient height cross-boards with holes, in which the culprit's neck and wrists were placed and fastened; so fixed he was exposed in some public place to the insults and noxious missiles of the mob. Formerly in England the penalty of forgery, perjury, etc., it became after the Commonwealth a favourite punishment for seditious libellers. It was last inflicted in London in 1830, and was abolished by law in 1837.