Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Strappado \Strap*pa"do\, n.; pl. {Strappadoes}. [It. strappata a
   pull, the strappado, from strappare to pull, from Prov. G.
   strapfen: cf. G. straff tense, stretched.]
   A military punishment formerly practiced, which consisted in
   drawing an offender to the top of a beam and letting him fall
   to the length of the rope, by which means a limb was often
   dislocated. --Shak.

Source : WordNet®

strappado
     n : torture in which a person's hands and tied behind their back
         and they are lifted off the ground by a rope tied to
         their wrists and that allowed to drop until their fall is
         checked by the rope
     [also: {strappadoes} (pl)]

strappadoes
     See {strappado}