Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a hangman’s noose.

c.1614		Beaumont & Fletcher Bonduca II iii: What’s the crime committed, That they wear necklaces?
c.1790		‘Luke Caffrey’s Ghost’ in Chap Book Songs 5: Neck lace is de word! and we must all be in at de Hemp-post in de end.
1835		Kentish Gaz. 4 Jan. 4/1: To see Jack ketch, rope-tying, roguish elf, with necklace ornament, like apendant locket.
1850		(con. 1843) Melville White-Jacket (1990) 298: Here am I, liable at any time to be run up at the yardarm, with a necklace, made by no jeweller, round my neck!
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

2. (Aus.) constr. with the, the act of garotting.

1923

Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 11 Aug. 15/3: [M]ental brilliance is a hindrance rather than a help in the application of the ungentle art of garroting. Professionally the operation is known as the ‘Squeeze’ or ‘Necklace’.

3. (S.Afr.) the act of placing a petrol-soaked tyre around a victim’s neck and setting it on fire [necklace v.].

1985		Wash. Post 12 Aug. A9/2: A group of young blacks caught him and pulled him to the ground. As he lay there they smashed rocks into his skull and body. Then came the ‘necklace’ burning.
1990		A. Dangor Z Town Trilogy 29: ‘Necklace! Necklace!’ a group of youths began to chant.
2000		I. van Kessel Beyond our Wildest Dreams 127: Several of the alleged witches [...] were also subjected to a necklace execution.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 354: They put him in what, years later, on another continent, was called a Soweto necklace: tyres, petrol..