gallowses

Noun

gallows (plural gallows or (rare) gallowses)

1. A wooden framework on which persons are executed by hanging.
   • Near-synonym: gibbet

   Synonyms:

   gibbet, gallows tree, gallow tree, hanging tree

2. (colloquial, obsolete) 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
3. (obsolete) The rest for the tympan when raised.
4. (colloquial, obsolete) 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
5. 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)
6. The main frame of a beam engine.

See all 7 meanings of gallows