A corsned was once a dreaded morsel of bread used in the Middle Ages to determine the guilt or innocence of a person accused of a crime. The accused was made to swallow an ounce of bread, known as the corsned, that had been exorcised and consecrated by a priest. If, after swallowing, the accused gagged or went into convulsions, he or she was pronounced guilty. However, if the corsned had no such effect, then the individual was deemed innocent. The word—which became obsolete after the practice was abandoned almost one thousand years ago—derives from the Old English word cor, meaning trial, and snaed, meaning piece.