carnifex

Definition

An executioner.

Etymology

From Latin carnifex (“butcher”).

Example Sentences

• "“[T]he carnifex, or executioner there, is brandishing his gulley ower near the King's face, seeing he is within reach of his weapon.”"
• "‘Lesser places have no more than a carnifex, who takes life and performs such excruciations as the judicators there decree.’"
• "Vorónezh: Ovid thrusts abruptly wide / the ice-locked shutters, discommodes his lyre / to Caesar's harbingers. Interrogation, / whatever is most feared. Truth's fatal vogue, / sad carnifex, self-styled of blood and wax."