Scaphism

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Scaphism \Scaph"ism\, n. [Gr. ska`fh a trough.]
     An ancient mode of punishing criminals among the Persians, by
     confining the victim in a trough, with his head and limbs
     smeared with honey or the like, and exposed to the sun and to
     insects until he died.
     [1913 Webster]