gibbet
pronunciation
How to pronounce gibbet in British English:
UK [ˈdʒɪbɪt]
How to pronounce gibbet in American English:
US [ˈdʒɪbɪt]
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- Noun:
- instrument of execution consisting of a wooden frame from which condemned persons are executed by hanging
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- Verb:
- hang on an execution instrument
- expose to ridicule or public scorn
Word Origin
- gibbet (n.)
- early 13c., "gallows," from Old French gibet "gallows; a bent stick, small stick with a cross" (13c.), diminutive of gibe "club; hoe," perhaps from Frankish *gibb "forked stick." "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].
- gibbet (v.)
- "to kill by hanging," 1590s, from gibbet (n.). Also "to hang a dead body in a public place for the sake of infamous exposure;" hence, figuratively "expose to ridicule" (1640s). Related: Gibbeted; gibbeting.
Example
- 1. I 'm really afraid of dying on the gibbet .
- 2. I see a world at peace , a world on which the gibbet 's shadow does not fall .
- 3. Only you 'll be hanged by the honest men of paris on a fine gibbet in a more splendid way .
- 4. This led them to believe that christ could well have been crucified on a t-shaped gibbet , with his arms above his head and his legs tucked up and under him so that his chest was crushed and he died of asphyxiation .