gallows

== English == === Pronunciation === (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɡæləʊz/ (US) IPA(key): /ˈɡæloʊz/ (now dialectal) IPA(key): /ˈɡæləs/ Rhymes: (UK) -æləʊz, (US) -æloʊz, (now dialectal) -æləs === Etymology 1 === From Middle English galwes, galewes, plural of galwe, galowe, from Old English galga, gealga, from Proto-West Germanic *galgō, from Proto-Germanic *galgô, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰalgʰ-, *ǵʰalg- (“long switch, rod, shaft, pole, perch”). The plural construction probably refers to the vertical and horizontal beams. Compare West Frisian galge, Dutch galg, German Galgen, Danish galge, Icelandic gálgi. For the pronunciation /ˈɡæləs/, compare bellows, bodice. ==== Noun ==== gallows (plural gallows or (rare) gallowses) A wooden framework on which persons are executed by hanging. [from 1300s] Coordinate terms: cross, crucifix; scaffold Near-synonym: gibbet (colloquial, obsolete) A wretch who deserves to be hanged. (printing, obsolete) The rest for the tympan when raised. (colloquial, obsolete) Suspenders; braces. Any contrivance with posts and crossbeam for suspending objects. 1971, Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather (screenplay, third draft) Lit by the moonlight through the window, he can see a FIGURE in the hospital bed alone in the room, and under a transparent oxygen tent. […] Tubes hang from a steel gallows beside the bed, and run to his nose and mouth. The main frame of a beam engine. ===== Synonyms ===== (wooden framework used for hanging): gallows tree, gallow tree, hanging tree, gibbet ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ==== Adverb ==== gallows (not comparable) (colloquial, archaic) Utterly; very. === Etymology 2 === ==== Verb ==== gallows third-person singular simple present indicative of gallow