bastinado means A blow with a cudgel or stick. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “bastinado” is a great word
BASTINADO — [Noun/Verb] A form of corporal punishment or torture consisting of blows delivered to the bare soles of the feet with a stick or cudgel. From Spanish bastonada, from bastón (“a stick or staff”). First attested in English 1570–80. Unlike caning (which typically falls upon the back or buttocks) or flagellation (a general term for whipping), bastinado is a cruelly specific science of the sole. It is the precise thud of wood on soft arch, the frantic curling of toes, the transformation of standing's foundation into a map of exquisite bruising—a calculated assault designed to poison every step thereafter.
noun
- A blow with a cudgel or stick.“[H]e is Sir / The moſt vnutterable covvard, that ere nature / Bleſt vvith hard ſhoulders, vvhich vvere only giuen him, / To the ruine of baſtinados.”
- Beating the bare soles of the feet with a stick as a form of corporal punishment used primarily within prisons in various countries. The receiving person is required to be barefoot.
verb
- To punish a person by beating the bare soles of the feet, using a stick or truncheon.