gallows tree

American  

Or gallow tree

noun

1. a gallows.

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gallows tree British  

noun

1. another name for gallows

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Etymology

Origin of gallows tree

before 900; Middle English galwe tree, Old English galgtrēow, equivalent to galg ( a ) gallows + trēow tree

Example Sentences

And the men sing, On Mountjoy one Monday morning High upon the gallows tree, Kevin Barry gave his young life For the cause of liberty.

From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt

Well, the mobs have broke in and tore down the fences, and snapped off the branches, and scattered all the leaves about, and it looks no better than a gallows tree.

From The Clockmaker Or, the Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick, of Slickville by Haliburton, Thomas Chandler

You know the end of the old ballad; "Sae dauntonly, sae wantonly, Sae rantingly gaed he, He play'd a spring, and danced a round, Beneath the gallows tree."

From The Black Dwarf by Scott, Walter, Sir

On one occasion," he tells me, "Punch suspended me, pictorially of course, from a gallows tree.

From The History of "Punch" by Spielmann, M. H. (Marion Harry)

But these were the days when no man awaked without having the possibility of either a knighthood or the gallows tree to encourage him to do his duty between dawn and dark.

From The Black Douglas by Richards, Frank