society > authority > punishment > capital punishment > [noun] > beheading > guillotining > guillotine > instrument similar to (3)
An instrument, similar to the guillotine, used in Edinburgh for beheading criminals of higher social status; (occasionally) = gibbet, n.1 1c. Now…
an instrument for beheading criminals, similar to the Scottish maiden or French guillotine, formerly in use at Halifax in Yorkshire.
regional. = maiden, n. 6. Obsolete.