---
title: headsman — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «headsman» in the school dictionary: Old use: a man whose job was to behead people with an axe or sword as a punishment. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# headsman

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**Who acts:** Old use, man, king, headsman · **What happens:** be, job, send, stand, lead · **To what, where:** prisoner, headsman

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«headsman» in the school dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [headsman in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/headsman.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Old use: a man whose job was to behead people with an axe or sword as a punishment.

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:headsman:m1:1
# text = Old use: a man whose job was to behead people with an axe or sword as a punishment.
1	Old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	5	punct	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
6	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	job	job	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	behead	behead	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
11	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
15	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	_
17	as	as	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	punishment	punishment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Old use |  |  |  |  | with a axe or sword; as a punishment; behead *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **job** |  | a man  a man  job's job |  |  |  |  |  | nom job «act intransitive»: poss=agent |

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One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The king sent for his headsman.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:headsman:x1:1
# text = The king sent for his headsman.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	headsman	headsman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | past | the king |  |  |  |  | for king's headsman | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The headsman stood ready with his axe.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:headsman:x2:1
# text = The headsman stood ready with his axe.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	headsman	headsman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | past | the headsman |  |  |  |  | ready *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The prisoner was led to the headsman.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:headsman:x3:1
# text = The prisoner was led to the headsman.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	prisoner	prisoner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	led	lead	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	headsman	headsman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lead** | past · passive |  | the prisoner |  | the headsman |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to headsman=Destination |

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**Text:** the school dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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