gallows
UK/ˈɡæləʊz//ˈɡæloʊz/
gallows noun: a wooden framework on which persons are executed by hanging. Also the plural of gallow glyph.
Noun
gallows (plural gallows or (rare) gallowses)
- A wooden framework on which persons are executed by hanging.
- 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?1728, Thomas Otway, “The Atheist, or, the Second Part of the Solider's Fortune”, in The Works of Mr. Thomas Otway, volume 2, London, page 37
- Synonyms:
- gibbet, gallows tree, gallow tree, hanging tree
- A wretch who deserves to be hanged.
- Ay, and a shrewd unhappy gallows too. / You'll ne'er be friends with him: a' kill'd your sister.1590, William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost
- The rest for the tympan when raised.
- Suspenders; braces.
- The last pair of "gallowses" made by Mr. Gratacap was an order from Mr. Brokaw, the clothier.1882, George William Sheldon, The Story of the Volunteer Fire Department of the City of New York, page 67
- Any contrivance with posts and crossbeam for suspending objects.
- 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.1971, Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather (screenplay, third draft)
- The main frame of a beam engine.
Adverb
gallows (not comparable)
- Utterly; very.
- They've got a gallows bad reputation, but you know what a place the beach is for talking.1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Beach of Falesá
Proper noun capitalized: Gallows
Gallows
- plural of Gallow
Also used as
gallows is also the plural of gallow glyph.
gallows is also the third-person singular simple present indicative of gallow.
gallows meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Tagalog and Arabic
gallows in Hindi
- wooden framework on which persons are put to death by hanging
- फाँसी phā̃sī
gallows in Urdu
- wooden framework on which persons are put to death by hanging
- پَھان٘سی phā̃sī
gallows in Tagalog
- wooden framework on which persons are put to death by hanging
- bibitayan
gallows in Arabic
- wooden framework on which persons are put to death by hanging
- مِشْنَقَة mišnaqa
More languagesFewer languages
- gallows in Persian
- چوبه دار čube-ye dâr, دار dâr
- gallows in Thai
- ตะแลงแกง dtà-lɛɛng-gɛɛng
- gallows in Vietnamese
- giá treo cổ, giá xử giảo
- gallows in Myanmar
- ကြိုးစင် krui:cang
Examples of gallows in a sentence
- Already engaging in gallows humor, I wondered if Mattis was defecting.
- Jacob Scheele was led to the gallows as a band played a death march.
- Freitag up in Sixth, or maybe Ver — nay, he’s gone to the gallows.
Synonyms of gallows
Forms of gallows
| plural | gallows |
|---|---|
| plural (rare) | gallowses |
Origin of gallows
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.
Words formed from gallows
Phrases with gallows
Words that rhyme with gallows
Questions about gallows
- What does gallows mean?
- Gallows means a wooden framework on which persons are executed by hanging.
- What is gallows in Hindi?
- Gallows in Hindi is फाँसी (phā̃sī). See Gallows meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is gallows?
- Gallows can be a noun, an adverb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce gallows?
- Gallows is pronounced /ˈɡæləʊz/ (UK).
- What is the plural of gallows?
- The plural of gallows is gallows.
Words near gallows in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gallows (page history and authors); Gallows (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-gallows.ogg.
Cite this entry: “gallows.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gallows. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.