CUCKING-STOOL

An engine of correction for common scolds, which in the Saxon language is said to signify the scolding-stool, though now it is frequently corrupted into ducking-stool, because the judgment was that, when the woman was placed therein, she should be plunged in the water for her punishment. It was also variously called a “trebucket,” “tumbrel,” or “castigatory.” 3 Inst. 219; 4 Bl. Comm. 169; Brown. James v. Comm., 12 Serg.