gibbet Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun alternative terms for gallows
    gallows tree; gallous; gallows-tree.
  2. verb hang on an execution instrument
  3. verb expose to ridicule or public scorn
    pillory.

WordNet

Gib"bet noun
Etymology
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.
Definitions
  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.
Gib"bet transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Gibbeted ; present participle & verbal noun Gibbeting
Definitions
  1. To hang and expose on a gibbet.
  2. To expose to infamy; to blacken.
    I'll gibbet up his name. Oldham.

Webster 1913