Hypertext Webster Gateway: "gallows"
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary (easton)
Gallows
Heb. 'ets, meaning "a tree" (Esther 6:4), a post or gibbet. In
Gen. 40:19 and Deut. 21:22 the word is rendered "tree."
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Gallows \Gal"lows\, n. sing.; pl. {Gallowses}or {Gallows}. [OE.
galwes, pl., AS. galga, gealga, gallows, cross; akin to D.
galg gallows, OS. & OHG. galgo, G. galgen, Icel. g[=a]lgi,
Sw. & Dan. galge, Goth. galga a cross. Etymologically and
historically considered, gallows is a noun in the plural
number, but it is used as a singular, and hence is preceded
by a; as, a gallows.]
1. A frame from which is suspended the rope with which
criminals are executed by hanging, usually consisting of
two upright posts and a crossbeam on the top; also, a like
frame for suspending anything.
So they hanged Haman on the gallows. --Esther vii.
10.
If I hang, I'll make a fat pair of gallows. --Shak.
O, there were desolation of gaolers and gallowses?
--Shak.
2. A wretch who deserves the gallows. [R.] --Shak.
3. (Print.) The rest for the tympan when raised.
4. pl. A pair of suspenders or braces. [Colloq.]
{Gallows bird}, a person who deserves the gallows. [Colloq.]
{Gallows bitts} (Naut.), one of two or more frames amidships
on deck for supporting spare spars; -- called also
{gallows}, {gallows top}, {gallows frame}, etc.
{Gallows frame}.
(a) The frame supporting the beam of an engine.
(b) (Naut.) Gallows bitts.
{Gallows}, or
{Gallow tree}, the gallows.
At length him nail['e]d on a gallow tree. --Spenser.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
gallows
n : instrument of execution consisting of a wooden frame from
which condemned persons are executed by hanging [syn: {gallowstree},
{gibbet}, {gallous}]
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