Westinghousing was a late 19th century slang term for the death penalty administered by electrocution in the electric
chair. This term is attributed to Thomas Edison by some historians. Edison advocated a direct current
system and Westinghouse advocated an alternating current
system. Edison suggested alternating current be used for electrocution because he felt AC was more likely to be lethal. Edison sought to discredit Westinghouse by this use of AC.