1. A wooden frame or device with holes for the feet, used historically as a form of punishment or restraint, similar to stocks.
Usage: archaic; historical

Examples

• The prisoner was locked in the footstocks in the town square as punishment.
• Footstocks were common instruments of public humiliation in medieval Europe.
• The museum displayed an old pair of footstocks used during colonial times.
• Offenders were sometimes placed in footstocks for minor crimes.
• The footstocks held the criminal's feet immobile while crowds gathered.