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

See Examples For:

gallows tree

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

The Colonel's son has taken a horse, and a raw, rough dun was he,15 With the mouth of a bell, and the heart of Hell, and the head of the gallows tree.

From Story Hour Readings: Seventh Year by Hartwell, E. C. (Ernest Clark)

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

One of a small bunch of chestnut trees west of the road where it tops the hill is pointed out as the gallows tree, although early accounts speak of a rough gallows having been erected.

From The New York and Albany Post Road From Kings Bridge to "The Ferry at Crawlier, over against Albany," Being an Account of a Jaunt on Foot Made at Sundry Convenient Times between May and November, Nineteen Hundred and Five by Hine, C. G. (Charles Gilbert)

Among those who thus weighted the gallows tree were some of the Tory brigands from Watauga; but not all the victims were of this character.

From Pioneers of the Old Southwest: a chronicle of the dark and bloody ground by Skinner, Constance Lindsay