Adjacent Words

Gibbet definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

GIB'BET, n. A gallows; a post or machine in form of a gallows, on which notorious malefactors are hanged in chains, and on which their bodies are suffered to remain, as spectacles in terrorem.
1. Any traverse beam.
GIB'BET, v.t. To hang and expose on a gibbet or gallows.
1. To hang or expose on anything going travers, as the beam of a gibbet.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: alternative terms for gallows [syn: gallows tree, gallows-tree, gibbet, gallous] v
1: hang on an execution instrument
2: expose to ridicule or public scorn [syn: pillory, gibbet]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English gibet, from Anglo-French Date: 13th century 1. gallows 1a 2. an upright post with a projecting arm for hanging the bodies of executed criminals as a warning II. transitive verb Date: 1646 1. a. to expose to infamy or public scorn b. to hang on a gibbet 2. to execute by hanging on a gibbet

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. hist. 1 a a gallows. b an upright post with an arm on which the bodies of executed criminals were hung up. 2 (prec. by the) death by hanging. --v.tr. (gibbeted, gibbeting) 1 put to death by hanging. 2 a expose on a gibbet. b hang up as on a gibbet. 3 hold up to contempt. Etymology: ME f. OF gibet gallows dimin. of gibe club, prob. f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 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.] 1. 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 asa warning. 2. The projecting arm of a crane, from which the load is suspended; the jib.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Gibbet Gib"bet, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Gibbeted; p. pr. & vb. n. Gibbeting.] 1. To hang and expose on a gibbet. 2. To expose to infamy; to blacken. I'll gibbet up his name. --Oldham.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(gibbets) A gibbet is a gallows. (OLD-FASHIONED) N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Gallows, hangman's tree. II. v. a. Hang on a gallows.