gallows

Meanings

Noun

• Wooden framework on which persons are put to death by hanging.
• A wretch who deserves to be hanged.
• The rest for the tympan when raised.
• Suspenders; braces.
• Any contrivance with posts and crossbeam for suspending objects.
• The main frame of a beam engine.

Verb

• Third-person singular simple present indicative form of gallow

Related

Similar words

• gallows tree, gallow tree, hanging tree, gibbet

Origin

• From Middle English galwes, galewes, galowe, galwe, from Old English ġealga, from Proto-Germanic *galgô, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰalgʰ-, *ǵʰalg-. Compare West Frisian galge, Dutch galg, German Galgen, Danish galge, Icelandic gálgi.