ducking stool

Meanings

nounducking stool (plural ducking stools)

historicalA chair used to punish women, especially scolds, by ducking them in water.
Near the pond was the ducking-stool where many a village scold had her tongue temporarily stilled.
1980, Robert Dougall, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 379

nounan instrument of punishment consisting of a chair in which offenders were ducked in water

Similar

Broader

instrument of punishment

Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Cite this entry

APA

ducking stool. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ducking%20stool

MLA

“ducking stool.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ducking%20stool. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ducking stool,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ducking%20stool.