1. (n.) A military punishment formerly practiced, which consisted in drawing an offender to the top of a beam and letting him fall to the length of the rope, by which means a limb was often dislocated.

2. (v. t.) To punish or torture by the strappado.

accouchement beleaguerment besetment birth birth throes birthing blessed event blockade blockading boundary bounds childbearing childbed childbirth circumscription closeness constraint continence cordoning cramp cramping crowdedness delivery discipline dismemberment enclosure envelopment estrapade galleys genesis giving birth hair hairbreadth hairsbreadth hard labor hatching having a baby immurement impalement imprisonment incapaciousness incarceration inclusion incommodiousness jailing keelhauling labor limit limitation martyrdom moderation multiparity narrow gauge narrowness nascency nativity nearness parturition penal servitude picketing prescription proscription qualification quarantine railriding restrain restraint restrictedness restriction rock pile siege slenderness stint straitness strappado strictness tar-and-feathering the Nativity the gantlet the stork tight squeeze tightness torment torture travail