| / English Dictionary |
GALLOWS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An instrument of execution consisting of a wooden frame from which a condemned person is executed by hanging
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("gallows" is a kind of...):
instrument of execution (an instrument designed and used to take the life of a condemned person)
Meronyms (parts of "gallows"):
halter; hangman's halter; hangman's rope; hemp; hempen necktie (a rope that is used by a hangman to execute persons who have been condemned to death by hanging)
Domain usage:
plural; plural form (the form of a word that is used to denote more than one)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gallows"):
gallous; gallows-tree; gallows tree; gibbet (alternative terms for gallows)
Context examples:
Kill another and do yourselves no good, or spare me and keep a witness to save you from the gallows.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
“It is all done,” said he, “and the witch is already hanging on the gallows. What further commands has my lord?” inquired the dwarf.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the gallows and the prison?
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
You may be in time to save her yet—though it be for the gallows.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
If I sought to enter by the house, my own servants would consign me to the gallows.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Here's luck, A fair wind, and Billy Bones his fancy, were very neatly and clearly executed on the forearm; and up near the shoulder there was a sketch of a gallows and a man hanging from it—done, as I thought, with great spirit.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Then the youth went to the gallows, sat down beneath it, and waited till evening came.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
The gallows awaits him, and I would do nothing to save him from it.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
His terror of the gallows drove him continually to commit temporary suicide, and return to his subordinate station of a part instead of a person; but he loathed the necessity, he loathed the despondency into which Jekyll was now fallen, and he resented the dislike with which he was himself regarded.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Because, you see, since I am mutineers' doctor, or prison doctor as I prefer to call it, says Doctor Livesey in his pleasantest way, I make it a point of honour not to lose a man for King George (God bless him!) and the gallows.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
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