behead,v.|bɪˈhɛd|Forms: 1 behéafdi-an, 2 behæfdien, 2–3 bihaued-en, 3 biheafdin, bihafdi, 3–4 bihefden, 4 biheueden, 4–5 behevede(n, bi-, byhede(n, -heede, 4–6 behede, -heede, 5–6 be-, byhedde, 6 beheadde, 6– behead.[OE.behéafdi-an,f.be- 3 (with privative force) + héafod head;cf.MHG.behoubeten in same sense,mod.G. enthaupten.]1.trans.To deprive (a man or animal) of the head, to decapitate; to kill by cutting off the head.c1000Ags.Gosp.Matt.xiv. 10He asende þa and beheafdode Iohannem.c1160Hatton G. ibid.,behæfdede.1205Lay.26296Þat heo us wulle bihafdi.a1225Juliana 40To bihefden[v.r. beheafdin]pawel.1382WyclifMatt.xiv. 10He sente, and bihedide[v.r. byheuedede]Joon in the prisoun.c1450LonelichGrail xlvii. 155Beheveded on aftyr anothir.1474CaxtonChesse 36Other said that they shold be beheded.1513MoreRich.IIIWks.54/1To bee byhedded at Pountfreit.1593Shakes.2Hen.VI, iv. vii. 102Take him away and behead him.1781GibbonDecl. & F. II. xlvi. 719A great number of the captives were beheaded.1873H. SpencerStud.Sociol.vii. 156We beheaded 2000 fellahs, throwing their headless corpses into the Nile.fig.1594HookerEccl.Pol.iv. xiv. §7To repair the decays thereof by beheading superstition.1726M. HenryWks.II. 370It adds to our grief to see a family beheaded.2.Of things: To deprive of the top or foremost part. rare.1579FulkeHeskins'Parl.271Maister Heskins beheadeth the sentence.1796MarshallGarden. §20 (1813) 400Graffs of last year, cut to a few eyes, behead as at 98.Mod.Beheaded and curtailed words.