Crossword clues for gibbet
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Gibbet \Gib"bet\, n. [OE. gibet, F. gibet, in OF. also club, fr. LL. gibetum;; cf. OF. gibe sort of sickle or hook, It. giubbetto gibbet, and giubbetta, dim. of giubba mane, also, an under waistcoat, doublet, Prov. It. gibba (cf. Jupon); so that it perhaps originally signified a halter, a rope round the neck of malefactors; or it is, perhaps, derived fr. L. gibbus hunched, humped, E. gibbous; or cf. E. jib a sail.]
A kind of gallows; an upright post with an arm projecting from the top, on which, formerly, malefactors were hanged in chains, and their bodies allowed to remain as a warning.
The projecting arm of a crane, from which the load is suspended; the jib.
Gibbet \Gib"bet\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Gibbeted; p. pr. & vb. n. Gibbeting.]
To hang and expose on a gibbet.
-
To expose to infamy; to blacken.
I'll gibbet up his name.
--Oldham.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
early 13c., "gallows," from Old French gibet "gallows; a bent stick," diminutive of gibe "club," perhaps from Frankish *gibb "forked stick." The verb meaning "to kill by hanging" is from 1590s. Related: Gibbeted; gibbeting. "Originally synonymous with GALLOWS sb., but in later use signifying an upright post with projecting arm from which the bodies of criminals were hung in chains or irons after execution" [OED].
Wiktionary
n. An upright post with a crosspiece used for execution and subsequent public display; a gallows. vb. 1 (context transitive English) To execute (someone), or display (a body), on a gibbet. 2 (context transitive English) To expose (someone) to ridicule or scorn.
WordNet
n. instrument of execution consisting of a wooden frame from which condemned persons are executed by hanging [syn: gallows, gallows tree, gallows-tree, gallous]
v. hang on an execution instrument
expose to ridicule or public scorn [syn: pillory]
Usage examples of "gibbet".
Mayd should be burned alive: the second said she should be throwne out to wild beasts: the third said, she should be hanged upon a gibbet: the fourth said she should be flead alive: thus was the death of the poore Maiden scanned betweene them foure.
G before i is hard, as give, except in giant, gigantick, gibbet, gibe, giblets, Giles, gill, gilliflower, gin, ginger, gingle, to which may be added Egypt and gypsy.
The triumph of the Romans was indeed sullied by their treatment of the captive king, whom they hung on a gibbet, without the knowledge of their indignant general.
Her father was a Dutchman who had lived adventurously in and about the South Seas, indulging in barratry and piracy, and dying at last on the gibbet for murder.
Mynheer, Michael Paw, who lorded it over the fair regions of ancient Pavonia, and the lands away south even unto the Navesink Mountains, and was, moreover, patroon of Gibbet Island.
What, I, I, who have shamed kings in luxury,--I to die on the gibbet, among the reeking, gaping, swinish crowd with whom--O God, that I were one of them even!
Other sights were equally impressive, though Gavin made sure they were belowdecks when the Helena passed Gibbet Island, where the dry bones of four convicted pirates rattled in iron cages.
G before i is hard, as give, except in giant, gigantick, gibbet, gibe, giblets, Giles, gill, gilliflower, gin, ginger, gingle, to which may be added Egypt and gypsy.
Her inquisitors explored the cities and mountains of the Lesser Asia, and the flatterers of the empress have affirmed that, in a short reign, one hundred thousand Paulicians were extirpated by the sword, the gibbet, or the flames.
The spruces stood black against the dying glow, as did the gibbet in the center of the yard, and the grisly remains that swung from it.
Though he was much weakened by the effusion of blood, before this attempt was discovered, yet, as the instrument had missed the artery, he did not expire until he was carried to the gibbet, and underwent the sentence of the law.
Immediately the old Captain was seized by Cossacks and dragged to the gibbet.
Sleep finally began to overtake them all as the gibbets turned softly, endlessly, in the depths of the darkness.
Without warning each of the gibbets dissolved, and the three prisoners fell crashing to the marble floor.
I have, in my government of Scotland and Ireland, seven hundred and forty-one wooden gibbets, of strong oak, clamped with iron, and freshly greased every week.