Hypertext Webster Gateway: "gibbet"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Gibbet \Gib"bet\, n. [OE. gibet, F. gibet, in OF. also club, fr.
LL. gibetum;; cf. OF. gibe sort of sickle or hook, It.
giubbetto gibbet, and giubbetta, dim. of giubba mane, also,
an under waistcoat, doublet, Prov. It. gibba (cf. {Jupon});
so that it perhaps originally signified a halter, a rope
round the neck of malefactors; or it is, perhaps, derived fr.
L. gibbus hunched, humped, E. gibbous; or cf. E. jib a sail.]
1. A kind of gallows; an upright post with an arm projecting
from the top, on which, formerly, malefactors were hanged
in chains, and their bodies allowed to remain asa warning.
2. The projecting arm of a crane, from which the load is
suspended; the jib.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Gibbet \Gib"bet\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Gibbeted}; p. pr. & vb.
n. {Gibbeting}.]
1. To hang and expose on a gibbet.
2. To expose to infamy; to blacken.
I'll gibbet up his name. --Oldham.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
gibbet
n : instrument of execution consisting of a wooden frame from
which condemned persons are executed by hanging [syn: {gallows},
{gallowstree}, {gallous}]
v 1: hang on a gibbet
2: expose to ridicule or public scorn [syn: {pillory}]
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