crucify v
1. kill by nailing onto a cross; "Jesus Christ was crucified"
2. treat cruelly; "The children tormented the stuttering teacher" [syn: torment, rag, bedevil, dun, frustrate]
3. criticize harshly or violently; "The press savaged the new President"; "The critics crucified the author for plagiarizing a famous passage" [syn: savage, pillory] [also: crucified]

Crucify \Cru"ci*fy\ (-f?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Crucified (-f?d); p. pr. & vb. n. Crucifying.] [F. crucifier, fr. (assumed) LL. crucificare, for crucifigere, fr, L. crux, crucis, cross + figere to fix, the ending -figere being changed to -ficare, F. -fier (in compounds), as if fr. L. facere to do, make. See Cross, and Fix, and cf. Crucifix.]
1. To fasten to a cross; to put to death by nailing the hands and feet to a cross or gibbet. They cried, saying, Crucify him, cricify him. --Luke xxiii. 21.
2. To destroy the power or ruling influence of; to subdue completely; to mortify. They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts. --Gal. v. 24.
3. To vex or torment. --Beau. & FL.

See more meaning on Crucify...

Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross (of various shapes) and left to hang until dead. The term comes from the Latin crucifixio ("fixing to a cross", from the prefix cruci-, from crux ("cross"), + verb figere, "fix or bind fast".)

Crucifixion was in use particularly among the Seleucids, Carthaginians, and Romans from about the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD. In the year 337, Emperor Constantine I abolished it in the Roman Empire, out of veneration for Jesus Christ, the most famous victim of crucifixion. It was also used as a form of execution in Japan for criminals, inflicted also on some Christians.

A crucifix (an image of Christ crucified on a cross) is the main religious symbol for Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox, but most Protestant Christians prefer to use a cross without the figure (the "corpus" - Latin for "body") of Christ. Most crucifixes portray Jesus on a Latin cross, rather than any other shape, such as a Tau cross or a Greek cross.

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