gallows – English noun declension

English noun forms of gallows

Noun: gallows
Singulargallows
Pluralgallows

Sample Sentences

  • Near-synonym: gibbet
  • No, Sir, 'tis fear of Hanging. Who would not ſteal, or do Murder, every time his Fingers itch'd at it, were it not for fear of the Gallows? [1728, Thomas Otway, “The Atheist, or, the Second Part of the Solider's Fortune”, in The Works of Mr. Thomas Otway, volume 2, London, page 37:]
  • Ay, and a shrewd unhappy gallows too. / You'll ne'er be friends with him: a' kill'd your sister. [1590, William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost:]
  • The last pair of "gallowses" made by Mr. Gratacap was an order from Mr. Brokaw, the clothier. [1882, George William Sheldon, The Story of the Volunteer Fire Department of the City of New York, page 67:]
  • Lit by the moonlight through the window, he can see a FIGURE in the hospital bed alone in the room, and under a transparent oxygen tent. […] Tubes hang from a steel gallows beside the bed, and run to his nose and mouth. [1971, Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather (screenplay, third draft)]

Nouns inflected like gallows

series, gallows, Snickers, rendezvous, innings,

Etymology

1. From Middle English galwes, galewes, plural of galwe, galowe, from Old English galga, gealga, from Proto-West Germanic *galgō, from Proto-Germanic *galgô, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰalgʰ-, *ǵʰalg- (“long switch, rod, shaft, pole, perch”). The plural construction probably refers to the vertical and horizontal beams.
2. Compare West Frisian galge, Dutch galg, German Galgen, Danish galge, Icelandic gálgi.
3. For the pronunciation /ˈɡæləs/, compare bellows, bodice. See: Middle English Nouns 'galwes', Old English Nouns 'galga', Dutch Nouns 'galg', German Nouns 'Galgen', Danish Nouns 'galge', Icelandic Nouns 'gálgi'.

Verbs referencing "gallows"

German Nouns Galgen, Finnish Nouns salko, Dutch Nouns galg, Gothic Nouns 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌲𐌰.