Definition of Gallows
gallows (noun) - an instrument of execution consisting of a wooden frame from which a condemned person is executed by hanging
View other definitions
How can gallows be used in a sentence?
This is the kind of gallows we all thrill to stand around.
Source
nullThe Germans call it gallows-humour; the French, 1'humour noir.
Source
nullThe gallows was a crude wooden structure, just three posts with crossbeams.
Source
nullI do not believe that the gallows is the last step between earth and heaven.
Source
nullThe ultimate extension of this premise, of course, is so-called gallows humor.
Source
nullIt must be remembered that in those days the gallows was a very popular institution.
Source
nullI know, he preferred to be shot, but I can tell you the gallows is a very, very good one.
Source
nullRight before he is hung, we understand, that waiting for him in the gallows is a red card.
Source
nullBut his "cold cuts" comment sounds like the kind of gallows humour heard in almost every crisis situation.
Source
nullIt's a kind of gallows humor that might seem a bit controversial when talking about the sensitive topic of AIDS.
Source
nullA gallows is the proper reward for the crime thou hast committed, but I am merciful, and readily listen to reason.
Source
nullThe difference between the two is illustrated by the institution of the gallows, which is human, but not humanitarian.
Source
nullNo one should be surprised if the first group frog-marched to the gallows is the editorial staff of the New York Times.
Source
nullThat old joke was the kind of gallows humor we came to appreciate among the crowd of kids I knew on the Polio Ward at the hospital.
Source
nullThe ordinary gallows is comparatively humane; the victim falls through a trap and drops far enough to break his neck and he dies instantly.
Source
nullThe Great Recession has been unkind, and "Dilbert" no longer offered the right kind of gallows humor that comes with a dead-end cubicle job.
Source
nullHe looked lower again, and behind the gallows was a column of heavy smoke going up, and in the midst of the smoke a cauldron hung on a tripod.
Source
nullHadary's song and dance on the gallows is the one place where everything comes together in a bloodcurdling irony beyond politics and pathology.
Source
nullAt the back were the stockyards and the killing-pen, where a contrivance for raising dead cattle -- called a gallows -- waved its arms to the sky.
Source
nullGoldstone presided in South Africa during the 1980s and 1990s, and wrote in one of his rulings that the gallows are the only deterrent for killers.
Source
nullThe judge in the appellate chamber confirming as well to CNN that within the docket that is waiting for Saddam Hussein at the gallows is a red card.
Source
nullThis was followed by his breezy 60 Minutes appearance which was punctuated with what he termed "gallows" laughter at strange and unpredictable points.
Source
nullWe understand that waiting for Saddam at the gallows is a red card that has been signed by Iraq's justice minister, condemning Saddam Hussein to death.
Source
nullForce and the gallows was the only thing that deterred 18th century pirates, and even then they really had to be hunted down to put an end to the threat.
Source
nullFor (thinks I) "gallows'-rogue" am I in very truth an outcast from my kind, a creature shamed by pillory and lash, a poor wretch for spiteful Fortune's buffets.
Source
nullThe birch and if neccessary the gallows are the way to deal with people that behave like total shits on an ongoing basis. on August 16, 2006 at 11: 43 am | Reply Laura
Source
nullWe understand that waiting for Saddam at the gallows will be a red card, this one signed by the current minister of justice, condemning Saddam Hussein himself to death.
Source
nullAnd these expeditions keeping him continually bare, robbing and junketting, desire of pleasure and fear of the gallows were the whole round of both his actions and his thoughts.
Source
nullElliot's full-length feature is a masterpiece of animation that includes everything from the snarkiest kind of gallows humor to the funniest death of a mime ever caught onscreen.
Source
nullBut now I am a man of property, and my eyes are open and my conscience revolts against theft, and the gallows is the finest institution going, and next to that comes a jolly good prison.
Source
null"Whether it was the voice and countenance of Mr. Tyson, or the terror of the word gallows, that affected the miscreant, his arm suddenly fell, and he stood as if struck dumb with amazement.
Source
nullI answer, No; no more than to warn them against poisons, pits, and precipices is likely to endanger their lives; or to tell them by what ill courses men come to the gallows is the ready way to bring them thither.
Source
nullHe rode to the august structure of retributive Themis, as the French call a gallows, in all the pride and pomp of shrievalty, and with a splendid retinue of well-equipped knaves and varlets, as our ancestors called honest serving-men.
Source
nullThey conducted me sometimes high above ground and sometimes dragging me along, but as silently as possible, in the direction of the gallows, which is always kept standing upon the Common, or as it is called "the pines," or "piny old field."
Source
nullThere's definitely a 'letting things out' in certain scenes and oddly the kind of gallows humor which is also part of the process is very necessary; but we want this film to be a tool for everyone in order to deal with loss to live their lives.
Source
nullIn addition to the laugh and I do agree with Icanhasyarn that this one looks like a gallows, which is a particularly horrific motif for a birthday cake, I also have the comfort of knowing my birthday cake - since I will be making it myself - will look ever so much more festive and happ.
Source
nullFathom would deter his reader from similar courses by a fear of similar punishment, when Defoe urged the moral usefulness of "Moll Flanders" and "Roxana," the two novelists simply expressed the general feeling that the sight of a malefactor hanging on the gallows was the most effective recommendation to virtue.
Source
nullIts chiefs wore white waistcoats, gave red cloaks and broken meat to old women, and would have lopped off three hundred years from Old England's life, by pushing her back to the early days of Henry VIII., when the religious houses flourished, and when the gallows was a perennial plant, bearing fruit that was _not_ for the healing of the nations.
Source
nullWhat used to be soft has calcified under the fifteen-year steady drip of daily disaster; what was once overly sincere naivete has given way to the kind of gallows humor that can turn even the most heartbreaking tragedy into a ghastly joke -- one which always ends with a smirk and the cynical admission that only hell can await such crass insensitivity.
Source
nullProbably, even in our own time, an artist might find his imagination considerably stimulated and his work powerfully improved if he knew that anything short of his best would bring him to the gallows, with or without trial by jury; but in the twelfth century the gallows was a trifle; the Queen hardly considered it a punishment for an offence to her dignity.
Source
null
Tips for Using gallows in a Sentence
You may have an easier time writing sentences with gallows if you know what words are likely to come before or after it, or simply what words are often found in the same sentence.
Frequent Predecessors
Words that often come before gallows in sentences. For example: "the gallows" or "a gallows"
- the
- a
- of
- and
- on
- or
- his
- to
- with
- at
Frequent Successors
Words that often come after gallows in sentences. For example: "gallows ." or "gallows and"
- .
- and
- in
- for
- humor
- was
- hill
- at
- on
- with
Associated Words
Words that aren't necessarily predecessors or successors, but are often found in the same sentence.
- noose
- trapdoor
- newgate
- hangman
- hanged
- goto
- executioner
- scaffold
- mordecai
- reigns
Alternate Definitions
- gallows (noun) - a similar contrivance for suspending objects
- gallows (noun) - in <em>coal-mining</em>, a set of timbers consisting of two upright pieces or props and a bar or crown-tree laid across their tops so as to support the roof in a level or in any other excavation
- gallows (noun) - in <em>printing</em>, a low trestle attached to old forms of hand printing-presses, to sustain the tympan
- gallows (noun) - a central core formed of several cornstalks interlaced diagonally (while uncut) to serve as a stool or support for cut maize which is placed about it in forming a shock
- gallows (noun) - <em>plural</em> a pair of braces for supporting the trousers. also <internalxref urlencoded="galluses">galluses</internalxref>
- gallows (noun) - a frame from which is suspended the rope with which criminals are executed by hanging, usually consisting of two upright posts and a crossbeam on the top; also, a like frame for suspending anything
- gallows (noun) - the rest for the tympan when raised
- gallows (noun) - a pair of suspenders or braces
- gallows (noun) - gallows bitts