Meaning

An upright post with a crosspiece used for execution and subsequent public display..

Definitions by Sense

1. An upright post with a crosspiece used for execution and subsequent public display.
2. The projecting arm of a crane, from which the load is suspended.
3. A human-shaped structure made of iron bands designed to publicly display the corpse of an executed criminal.
4. (transitive) To execute (someone), or display (a body), on a gibbet.
5. (transitive) To expose (someone) to ridicule or scorn.

Example Sentences

Near-synonym: gallows

Thy Friends without the help of Prophecie, / Read Goals^([sic – meaning Gaols]) and Gibbets in thy Deſtiny; […]

No, had every Commandment but a Gibbet belonging to it, I ſhould not have had four King's Evidences to-day ſwear impudently I was a Papiſt, when I was never at Maſs yet ſince I was born, nor indeed at any other Worſhip theſe twenty Years.

Why, your cavalier is a rebel—an exile, whose property is confiscated, and for whose neck the gibbet stands prepared!

Word Forms

• gibbets
• gibbeting
• gibbetting
• gibbeted
• gibbetted

Synonyms for gibbet

Related Words

When Should You Use Gibbet?

Use gibbet when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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