dance on a rope

Verb

dance on a rope (third-person singular simple present dances on a rope, present participle dancing on a rope, simple past and past participle danced on a rope)

1. (dated) To be hanged.
   • He sat and watched him dancing on a rope, choking and fighting for every breath, until his tongue swelled up in his mouth and his face turned black and still he struggled.2011, Karen Maitland, The Gallows Curse
   • 'Here. they arrest some jumped-up little rebel called Rose.' His finger hits nine o'clock. His voice rising with urgency. 'I meet her in my office, she shows no remorse. I think how lovely she'll look dancing on a rope.' He moves his finger close to the first line — the twelve o;clock line. 'I...2018, Anna Day, The Fandom

   Synonyms:

   hang, swing, dance on nothing, dance the hempen jig, dance the Tyburn jig, dance upon nothing, dangle, ride a horse foaled by an acorn, stretch hemp, string up

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see dance, rope.; to dance on a tightrope or slack rope as an entertainer.