n., pl. gallows or -lows·es.

1. 1. A device usually consisting of two upright posts supporting a crossbeam from which a noose is suspended and used for execution by hanging; a gallows tree.
   2. A similar structure used for supporting or suspending.
2. Execution by hanging: a crime punishable by the gallows.

[Middle English galwes, pl. of galwe, gallows, from Old English gealga, galga.]

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gibbets

A number of beliefs and customs clustered around the gallows, the hangman's rope, and even the body of the executed person. The wood of the gallows itself was prized for its curative properties, as it was believed effective against the ague and toothache. The earliest references show that for the ague, a piece was worn or carried as an amulet, as noted by Sir Thomas Browne in his Pseudodoxia Epidemica ((1650; 6th edn. 1672), book 5, chapter 23) ‘when for amulets against agues we use the chips of gallows and places of execution’. From the 19th century on, the emphasis is on splinters of the wood being placed in the mouth to cure the toothache. Attention also focused on the rope used in the hanging. Reginald Scot (1584: book 12, chapter 14) reports ‘A charme for the headach: Tie a halter about your head, wherewith one hath beene hanged’, and a century later John Aubrey (1686/1880: 198) confirms its practice, commenting that the hangman makes a profit by selling pieces of the rope. This belief had been held in classical times, and continued to be reported in England well into the 20th century. In addition to being good for headaches, the rope was held to be generally lucky, especially by card-players. The body of the hanged person was also valuable, the touch of the corpse's hand was used to cure swellings (see dead man's hand) and the hand of glory was much prized by burglars. Mandrakes were believed to grow especially beneath the gallows ‘… arising from fat or urine that drops from the body of the dead’ (Browne, 1672: book 2 chapter 6).

See also HANGMAN'S STONE; SKIN (HUMAN)

Bibliography
The full bibliography list is available here.

• Opie and Tatem, 1989: 172, 189

A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce

n.

A stage for the performance of miracle plays, in which the leading actor is translated to heaven. In this country the gallows is chiefly remarkable for the number of persons who escape it.

    Whether on the gallows high
        Or where blood flows the reddest,
    The noblest place for man to die --
        Is where he died the deadest.
                                                            (Old play)

---

IN BRIEF: A platform from which people who have been sentenced to death are hanged by the neck.

There was a gallows set up in the middle of the Old West Town.

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - galge

idioms:

• gallows bird    galgenfugl

Nederlands (Dutch)
galg

Français (French)
n. - gibet, potence

idioms:

• gallows bird    gibier de potence

Deutsch (German)
n. - Galgen, %

idioms:

• gallows bird    Galgenvogel

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αγχόνη, κρεμάλα

idioms:

• gallows bird    άνθρωπος του σκοινιού και του παλουκιού

Italiano (Italian)
forca

idioms:

• gallows bird    avanzo di galera

Português (Portuguese)
n. - forca (f), enforcamento (m), armação (f) (para ginástica)

idioms:

• gallows bird    malfeitor (m), pessoa (f) que merece ser enforcada

Русский (Russian)
виселица, казнь через повешение

idioms:

• gallows bird    висельник

Español (Spanish)
n. - horca, cadalso, patíbulo, ejecución por colgamiento

idioms:

• gallows bird    carne de horca, condenado a la horca

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - galge

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
绞架, 绞刑

idioms:

• gallows bird    应受绞刑的犯人

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. pl. - 絞架, 絞刑
n. - 絞架, 絞刑

idioms:

• gallows bird    應受絞刑的犯人

한국어 (Korean)
n. pl. - 바자의 멜빵
n. - 교수대[모양의 것]

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 絞首台, 絞首刑

idioms:

• gallows bird    極悪人

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) مشنقه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮עמוד תלייה, גרדום, תלייה‬

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