From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdecapitatede‧cap‧i‧tate /dɪˈkæpɪteɪt/ verb [transitive] KILLto cut off someone’s head → behead a decapitated body —decapitation /dɪˌkæpɪˈteɪʃən/ noun [countable, uncountable]→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
decapitate• The boy reached for a chopper and began briskly to decapitate the birds.• As a 10-year-old kid Pauline used a stolen acetylene torch to decapitate the globe of a gumball machine.Origin decapitate (1600-1700) Late Latin decapitatus, from Latin caput “head” 