Word.ws English Dictionary

gallows bird

gallows bird noun: a person who deserves, or is likely, to be hanged.

Noun

gallows bird (plural gallows birds)

  1. (archaic) A person who deserves, or is likely, to be hanged.
    • Everybody along Long Wharf knows you called him a gallows bird. He's not used to it.1943, Esther Hoskins Forbes, Johnny Tremain
    • The story of the man who bit off his father's nose for rearing him as a gallows bird is as old as Aesop, but no known source before Brant mentions the son's name.2012, Sebastian Brant, The Ship of Fools

Synonyms of gallows bird

All synonyms of gallows bird

Forms of gallows bird

pluralgallows birds
alternative formgallows-bird
alternative formgallowsbird

Origin of gallows bird

From gallows + bird. Compare German construction Galgenvogel (literally “gallows-fowl" or "gallows-bird”), and French gibier de potence, as well as similar English jailbird.

Questions about gallows bird

What does gallows bird mean?
Gallows bird means a person who deserves, or is likely, to be hanged.
What part of speech is gallows bird?
Gallows bird is a noun.
What is the plural of gallows bird?
The plural of gallows bird is gallows birds.

Words near gallows bird in the dictionary

  1. gallowglass
  2. gallowglasses
  3. Gallowhill
  4. gallowing
  5. gallows
  6. gallows bird
  7. gallows birds
  8. gallows frame
  9. gallows frames
  10. gallows god
  11. gallows gods

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gallows bird (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:

Cite this entry: “gallows bird.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gallows_bird. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.