Word.ws English Dictionary

gallowglasses

gallowglasses is the plural of gallowglass.

Meaning of gallowglass

Noun

gallowglass (plural gallowglasses or gallowglass)

  1. (historical) A mercenary warrior élite among Gaelic-Norse clans residing in the Western Isles of Scotland and Scottish Highlands from the mid 13th century to the end of the 16th century.
    • The multiplying villanies of nature / Do swarm upon him--from the western isles/ Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

Questions about gallowglasses

What is gallowglasses the plural of?
Gallowglasses is the plural of gallowglass.

Words near gallowglasses in the dictionary

  1. gallowed
  2. Gallowegian
  3. Gallowegians
  4. Gallowgate
  5. gallowglass
  6. gallowglasses
  7. Gallowhill
  8. gallowing
  9. gallows
  10. gallows bird
  11. gallows birds

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gallowglasses (page history and authors); gallowglass (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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