Pro-crūs'tēs, n.

(-krūs'teez), n. [Lat., Gr. Προκρούστης, from προκρούειν, to beat out, hence, to stretch and torture, from πρό, forward, forth, and κρούειν, to strike or smite.] (Gr. Antiq.) A celebrated highwayman of Attica, who tied his victims upon an iron bed, and, as the case required, either stretched out or cut off their legs to adapt them to its length;—whence the metaphorical phrase, the bed of Procrustes.