gallows-bitts

noun, plural gal·lows·es, gal·lows.

a wooden frame, consisting of a crossbeam on two uprights, on which condemned persons are executed by hanging.

a similar structure from which something is suspended.

execution by hanging: a crime deserving of the gallows.

Also called gallows bitts. Nautical. a support on the deck of a vessel, generally one of two or more, consisting of a crosspiece on two uprights, for spars, boats, etc.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English galwes, Old English g(e)algan, plural of g(e)alga gallows; cognate with German Galgen

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To gallows-bitts

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Gallows-bitts is always a great word to know.

So is interrobang. Does it mean:

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

gallows (ˈɡæləʊz)

—n , pl -lowses, -lows
1.	a wooden structure usually consisting of two upright posts with a crossbeam from which a rope is suspended, used for hanging criminals
2.	any timber structure resembling this, such as (in Australia and New Zealand) a frame for hoisting up the bodies of slaughtered cattle
3.	the gallows execution by hanging

[C13: from Old Norse galgi, replacing Old English gealga; related to Old High German galgo]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

gallows

early 13c., pl. of M.E. galwe "gallows," from O.N. galgi, or from O.E. galga (Mercian), gealga (W. Saxon); all from P.Gmc. *galg- "pole" (cf. O.Fris. galga, M.H.G. galge "gallows, cross"), perhaps cognate with Lith. zalga "pole, perch," Armenian dzalk "pole." Originally also used of the cross of the

crucifixion. Plural because made of two poles.

Easton

Bible Dictionary

Gallows definition

Heb. 'ets, meaning "a tree" (Esther 6:4), a post or gibbet. In Gen. 40:19 and Deut. 21:22 the word is rendered "tree."

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Matching Quote

"Without freedom, no art; art lives only on the restraints it imposes on itself, and dies of all others. But without freedom, no socialism either, except the socialism of the gallows."

-Albert Camus

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