What does gallows mean?

Definitions for gallows
ˈgæl oʊz, -əzgal·lows

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word gallows.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. gallowsnoun

    an instrument of execution consisting of a wooden frame from which a condemned person is executed by hanging

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Gallow, Gallowsnoun

    Etymology: It is used by some in the singular; but by more only in the plural, or sometimes has another plural gallowses. Galga, Gothick; gealga, Saxon; galge, Dutch; which some derive from gabalus, furca, Latin; others from גכה high; others from gallu, Welsh, power: but it is probably derived like gallow, to fright, from agælwan, the gallows being the great object of legal terrour.

    This monster sat like a hangman upon a pair of gallows: in his right hand he was painted holding a crown of laurel, in his left hand a purse of money. Philip Sidney, b. ii.

    I would we were all of one mind, and one mind good; O, there were desolation of gaolers and gallowses. William Shakespeare, Cymbel.

    I prophesied, if a gallows were on land,
    This fellow could not drown. William Shakespeare, Tempest.

    A little before dinner he took the major aside, and whispered him in the ear, that execution must that day be done in the town, and therefore required him that a pair of gallows should be erected. John Hayward.

    A production that naturally groweth under gallowses, and places of execution. Thomas Browne, Vulgar Errours, b. ii.

    A poor fellow, going to the gallows, may be allowed to feel the smart of wasps while he is upon Tyburn road. Jonathan Swift.

    Cupid hath been five thousand years a boy.
    —— Ay, and a shrewd unhappy gallows too. William Shakespeare.

Wikipedia

  1. Gallows

    A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks of grain or minerals, usually positioned in markets or toll gates. The term was also used for a projecting framework from which a ship's anchor might be raised so that it is no longer sitting on the bottom, i.e., "weighing [the] anchor,” while avoiding striking the ship’s hull. In modern usage it has come to mean almost exclusively a scaffold or gibbet used for execution by hanging.

ChatGPT

  1. gallows

    Gallows is a structure, typically of two uprights and a crosspiece, for the execution of criminals by hanging. It is typically used as a method of capital punishment and is also used symbolically to represent death or execution.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Gallows

    of Gallows

  2. Gallows

    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

  3. Gallows

    a wretch who deserves the gallows

  4. Gallows

    the rest for the tympan when raised

  5. Gallows

    a pair of suspenders or braces

  6. Etymology: [OE. galwes, pl., AS. galga, gealga, gallows, cross; akin to D. galg gallows, OS. & OHG. galgo, G. galgen, Icel. glgi, 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.]

Wikidata

  1. Gallows

    A gallows is a frame, typically wooden, used for execution by hanging, or by means to torture before execution, as was used when being hanged, drawn and quartered. The gallows took its form from the Roman Furca when Constantine the Great abolished crucifixion.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Gallows

    gal′us, n. a wooden frame on which criminals are executed by hanging—a pl. used as a sing., and having (Shak.) the double pl. 'gallowses' (used also coll. originally for a pair of braces for supporting the trousers): (Shak.) a wretch who deserves the gallows: any contrivance with posts and cross-beam for suspending objects: a rest for the tympan of a hand printing-press: the main frame of a beam-engine.—ns. Gall′ows-bird, a person who deserves hanging; Gall′ows-bitts, a frame fixed in a ship's deck to support spare spars.—adj. Gall′ows-free, free from danger of hanging.—n. Gall′owsness (slang), recklessness.—adj. Gall′ows-ripe, ready for the gallows.—n. Gall′ows-tree, a tree used as a gallows.—Cheat the gallows, to escape hanging though deserving it. [M. E. galwes (pl.)—A.S. galga; Ger. galgen.]

Dictionary of Nautical Terms

  1. gallows

    The cross-pieces on the small bitts at the main and fore hatchways in flush-decked vessels, for stowing away the booms and spars over the boats; also termed gallowses, gallows-tops, gallows-bitts, and gallows-stanchions. The word is used colloquially for archness, as well as for notoriously bad characters.

Suggested Resources

  1. gallows

    Song lyrics by gallows -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by gallows on the Lyrics.com website.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of gallows in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of gallows in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of gallows in a Sentence

  1. Matt Damon:

    (Weir) really got this guy with this great sense of humor, really smart and really capable guy, but somebody who has that great kind of gallows humor that people who do this kind of work tend to have.

  2. Bennie Thompson:

    Team Pence life was at risk, there were people who had gallows erected on the lawn of the Capitol ostensibly to hang the vice president. There were people on them threatening the life of the vice president. The vice president could not leave the Capitol of the United States because of the riot. He was sequestered in an area in the Capitol. So his life was in danger.

  3. Bennie Thompson:

    Mike Pence life was at risk, there were people who had gallows erected on the lawn of the Capitol ostensibly to hang the vice president. There were people on them threatening the life of the vice president. The vice president could not leave the Capitol of the United States because of the riot. He was sequestered in an area in the Capitol. So his life was in danger.

  4. Proverb:

    All criminals turn preachers under the gallows.

  5. The Mississippi Democrat:

    His life was at risk, there were people who had gallows erected on the lawn of the Capitol ostensibly to hang the vice president. There were people on them threatening the life of the vice president. The vice president could not leave the Capitol of the United States because of the riot.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

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Translations for gallows

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"gallows." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/gallows>.

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