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Meaning of GIBBET

Pronunciation:  'jibit

WordNet Dictionary
 
 Definition: 
  1. [n]  instrument of execution consisting of a wooden frame from which condemned persons are executed by hanging
  2. [v]  expose to ridicule or public scorn
  3. [v]  hang on a gibbet
 
 Synonyms: gallous, gallows, gallowstree, pillory
 
 See Also: display, exhibit, expose, hang, hangman's halter, hangman's rope, hemp, hempen necktie, instrument of execution, string up

 

 

Webster's 1913 Dictionary
 
 Definition: 
  1. \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.
    
  2. \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.
    
 

 

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