gibbet

2 synonyms for gibbet, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.

Noun — An upright post with a crossbar, once used to carry out executions and to display the body afterwards as a warning to others.

Synonyms

Rare, literary or technical

Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.

gallows jib

Synonyms by Meaning

1. noun

An upright post with a crossbar, once used to carry out executions and to display the body afterwards as a warning to others.

“The old maps mark a gibbet on the hill outside town.”

gallows

2. noun

The projecting arm of a crane from which the load hangs.

“The crane's gibbet swung the beam over the dock.”

jib

How to use gibbet

The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.

hanged from a gibbet displayed on a gibbet the crane's gibbet a gibbet at the crossroads

The execution sense is historical and now mainly appears in accounts of the past.

Etymology

Gibbet comes from Middle English gibet, taken from Old French gibet. Beyond that the trail forks: it may go back to a Frankish word for a forked stick, or to the Latin gibbus, meaning hunchbacked.

Full origin of gibbet →

Frequently asked questions

What does gibbet mean?

A gibbet is an upright post with a crossbar that was once used for executions and for displaying the body of an executed person afterwards. The same word also names the projecting arm of a crane.

Is a gibbet the same as a gallows?

They are close in meaning and often used together, though a gibbet was specifically used to display a body after execution rather than only to carry it out.

Why is a crane part called a gibbet?

The crane's projecting arm was named a gibbet because of its resemblance in shape to the execution post, both being a beam projecting out to bear a hanging load.

People also searched

gallows jib

Nearby words

← Back to the full definition of gibbet