gallows
/ˈɡæloʊz/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.08 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any contrivance with posts and crossbeam for suspending objects.
noun
The main frame of a beam engine.
noun
plural of gallow glyph; a specialized, ornate character that appears frequently in the Voynich Manuscript.
Example Sentences
- "Near-synonym: gibbet"
- "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?"
- "Ay, and a shrewd unhappy gallows too. / You'll ne'er be friends with him: a' kill'd your sister."
- "The last pair of "gallowses" made by Mr. Gratacap was an order from Mr. Brokaw, the clothier."
- "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."
- "They've got a gallows bad reputation, but you know what a place the beach is for talking."
Etymology
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɡæloʊz/
- British English: /ˈɡæləʊz/