Cucking-Stool
Black's Law Dictionary · Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910
Black's Law Dictionary
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 ."frebucket," "tumbrel," or "castiga-tory."
3 Inst. 219; 4 Bl. Comm. 169; Brown. James v. Comm., 12 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 220