noyade

1. (chiefly historical) A murder by drowning, especially one of those carried out during the French Reign of Terror.Examples: "By degrees, daylight itself witnesses Noyades: women and men are tied together, feet and feet, hands and hands; and flung in: this they call Mariage Républicain, Republican Marriage."; "Alongside this, there were the infamous noyades: perhaps 2,000 alleged counter-revolutionaries strapped in to barges were towed into the river Loire where the barges were scuppered, leaving the victims to drown."historical