gallows

[gal-ohz, -uh z] /ˈgæl oʊz, -əz/
noun, plural gallowses, gallows.
1.
a wooden frame, consisting of a crossbeam on two uprights, on which condemned persons are executed by hanging.
2.
a similar structure from which something is suspended.
3.
execution by hanging:
a crime deserving of the gallows.
4.
Also called gallows bitts. Nautical. a support on the deck of a vessel, generally one of two or more, consisting of a crosspiece on two uprights, for spars, boats, etc.
Origin
before 900; Middle English galwes, Old English g(e)algan, plural of g(e)alga gallows; cognate with German Galgen
Examples from the web for gallows
  • In this book drugs are merely a means to an end, and that end is the gallows.
  • gallows humor, perhaps, but it has helped me to survive my condition.
  • Before the play is over good people of pious nature and responsible temper are condemning other good people to the gallows.
  • The rope is not a normal gallows rope but the stem of an opium poppy.
  • His beard had gone gray, his sons were dead and the gallows were being readied.
British Dictionary definitions for gallows

gallows

/ˈɡæləʊz/
noun (pl) -lowses, -lows
1.
a wooden structure usually consisting of two upright posts with a crossbeam from which a rope is suspended, used for hanging criminals
2.
any timber structure resembling this, such as (in Australia and New Zealand) a frame for hoisting up the bodies of slaughtered cattle
3.
the gallows, execution by hanging
Word Origin
C13: from Old Norse galgi, replacing Old English gealga; related to Old High German galgo
Word Origin and History for gallows
n.

c.1300, plural of Middle English galwe "gallows" (mid-13c.), from Old Norse galgi "gallows," or from Old English galga (Mercian), gealga (West Saxon) "gallows;" all from Proto-Germanic *galgon- "pole" (cf. Old Frisian galga, Middle High German galge "gallows, cross," German Galgen "gallows," Gothic galga "cross"), from PIE *ghalgh- "branch, rod" (cf. Lithuanian zalga "pole, perch," Armenian dzalk "pole"). In Old English, also used of the cross of the crucifixion. Plural because made of two poles.

gallows in the Bible

Heb. 'ets, meaning "a tree" (Esther 6:4), a post or gibbet. In Gen. 40:19 and Deut. 21:22 the word is rendered "tree."