gallows
a wooden frame, consisting of a crossbeam on two uprights, on which condemned persons are executed by hanging.
a similar structure from which something is suspended.
execution by hanging: a crime deserving of the gallows.
Also called gallows bitts .Nautical. a support on the deck of a vessel, generally one of two or more, consisting of a crosspiece on two uprights, for spars, boats, etc.
Origin of gallows
1Words Nearby gallows
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use gallows in a sentence
Saved from the public gallows, Weeks was virtually exiled from the city, and wound up in Mississippi, where he raised a family.
New York’s Most Tragic Ghost Loves Minimalist Swedish Fashion | Nina Strochlic | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTgallows humor has always served him and other activists well; it had to in such dark times.
Gay Activist David Mixner: I Mercy Killed 8 People | Tim Teeman | October 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWhichever of the groups was in power would be marching the other to the gallows.
Saddam’s Former Deputy, the Red Skull of Baghdad, Still at Large in Iraq and Allied With ISIS | Jacob Siegel, Christopher Dickey | July 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut when the people we put in power strung him up on the gallows his last words proved almost true.
Iraq Is Not Our War Anymore. Let It Be Iran’s Problem. | Christopher Dickey | July 17, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe last tally of children on death row, in 2011, estimated at least 143 child offenders were awaiting the gallows in Iran.
It is far from evident why Soulis escaped with imprisonment while Brechin and others were sent to the gallows.
King Robert the Bruce | A. F. MurisonHe missed no opportunity of thwarting and damaging the Government which had saved him from the gallows.
The History of England from the Accession of James II. | Thomas Babington MacaulayThe evening previous he tried to poison himself, but lived to be stoned and hooted by the populace on his way to the gallows.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology | Joel MunsellOnce they hung a father and son, whose sole offence was their loyalty to the Government, on the same gallows.
Portrait and Biography of Parson Brownlow, The Tennessee Patriot | William Gannaway BrownlowUnknown or distant sufferings make less impression upon people than the erected gallows, or the example of a hanged man.
Superstition In All Ages (1732) | Jean Meslier
British Dictionary definitions for gallows
/ (ˈɡæləʊz) /
a wooden structure usually consisting of two upright posts with a crossbeam from which a rope is suspended, used for hanging criminals
any timber structure resembling this, such as (in Australia and New Zealand) a frame for hoisting up the bodies of slaughtered cattle
the gallows execution by hanging
Origin of gallows
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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