alfet

plural alfets

1. historicalA cauldron of boiling water into which an accused person plunged his forearm, used as a form of trial in Medieval England.

   ALFET, antiently ſignified the Cauldron in which boiling Water was put, for the Accuſed to plunge his Hand in up to the Elbow, by way of Trial of Purgation.

   [1728, E[phraim] Chambers, “Alfet”, in Cyclopædia: Or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences; […] In Two Volumes, volumes I (A–H), London: […] James and John Knapton [et al.], →OCLC, page 59, column 2

   1 more example

   Miss Twig, head bowed at the far end of the table, continued to eat placidly, but Jacko fixed her with a hard look. "His rooms, huh? Eh, Twigs," he said, "'tis the alfet for a ewbrice." ¶ Dimple gurgled, swallowed, and said, "And what, Jacko boy, might an alfet be?" ¶ Jacko grinned. "Yer tub a boilin' water. For duckin' class offenders."

   1981, Edmund Apffel, The Last Days at St. Saturn's, New York, N.Y.: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, →ISBN, page 40