gallows

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɡæləʊz/

• Audio (US)

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Etymology 1

Old English ġealga.

Noun

gallows (plural gallows or gallowses)

1. Wooden framework on which persons are put to death by hanging.
   • 1728, Thomas Otway, “The Atheist, or, the Second Part of the Solider's Fortune”, in The Works of Mr. Thomas Otway^[1], volume 2, page 37:

     No, Sir, 'tis fear of Hanging. Who would not ſteal, or do Murder, every time his Fingers itch'd at it, were it not for fear of the Gallows?

2. (colloquial, obsolete) A wretch who deserves to be hanged.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

3. (printing, obsolete) The rest for the tympan when raised.
4. (colloquial, obsolete) suspenders; braces

Synonyms

• gallows tree, gallow tree, hanging tree, gibbet

Derived terms

• gallows bird, gallows humor

Translations

wooden framework on which persons are put to death by hanging

• Arabic: مشنقة (ar) (míshnaqa) f
• Bulgarian: бесило (bg) (besilo) n, бесилка (bg) (besilka) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 絞刑架 (cmn), 绞刑架 (cmn) (jiǎoxíngjià), 絞台 (cmn), 绞台 (cmn) (jiǎotái)

• Czech: šibenice (cs) f
• Danish: galge (da) c
• Dutch: galg (nl)
• Esperanto: pendumilo (eo), pendigilo (eo)
• Estonian: võllas (et)
• Faroese: gálgi (fo) m
• Finnish: hirsipuu (fi)
• French: gibet (fr) m, potence (fr) f
• German: Galgen (de) m
• Greek: αγχόνη (el) (anchóni) f, κρεμάλα (el) (kremála) f
• Hebrew: גרדום (he) (gardom)
• Hungarian: akasztófa (hu)
• Icelandic: gálgi (is) m
• Italian: forca (it), patibolo (it) m
• Japanese: 絞首台 (ja) (こうしゅだい, kōshudai)

• Jèrriais: gibet m
• Latin: arbor (la) f, gabalus (la) m, patibulum (la) n
• Latvian: kārtavas (lv) f pl
• Luxembourgish: Gaalgen (lb) m
• Norwegian: galge (no) m
• Persian: چوبه دار (fa) (ĉōba ye dâr)
• Polish: szubienica (pl) f
• Portuguese: forca (pt), cadafalso (pt) m
• Russian: виселица (ru) (víselica) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: шибеница (sh) f, ве̏шала (sh) f, вје̏шала (sh) f

  Roman: šibenica (sh) f, vešala (sh) f, vjȅšala (sh) f

• Slovak: šibenica (sk) f
• Spanish: horca (es) f, patíbulo (es) m
• Swedish: galge (sv) c
• Tatar: дар (tt) (dar)
• Turkish: darağacı (tr)
• Vilamovian: guolgia

Etymology 2

Verb

gallows

1. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of gallow.