gibbet
Public execution frame
A gibbet is an upright post with a projecting arm from which the bodies of executed criminals were hung in chains and left to rot as a public warning.
The structure resembles a gallows but served display rather than execution.
To gibbet someone is to hang their body this way, or figuratively, to expose them to public scorn: The press gibbeted him for his hypocrisy.
Execution hanging apparatus
- scaffoldTemporary elevated work structure
- nooseLoop that constricts
- hangmanOne who kills condemned
- dropFall or release
trapdoor · rope · executioner · strangulation · asphyxiation · condemned · death · public execution
Barred confinement structure
- iron cageBarred metal enclosure
- corpseDeceased human body
- carrionPutrefying animal remains
- crowsLarge black corvids
ravens · chains · crossroads · warning · deterrent · rotting · decomposition · spectacle
Public punishment restraint
- stocksOwnership stakes or inventory
- scaffoldTemporary elevated work structure
- tortureDeliberate infliction of suffering
- oublietteUnderground cell with ceiling hatch
rack · burning · heretic · traitor · Tower of London · medieval · Tudor · colonial
Disturbing, death-obsessed
- ghoulishFascinated by death grotesquely
- gruesomeCausing horror and disgust
- eerieDisturbingly strange
- sinisterThreateningly suggestive of harm
grim · ghastly · haunting · foreboding · ominous · morbid · chilling · horror
gallows
Execution hanging apparatus
drop · trapdoor · rope · executioner · strangulation · asphyxiation · condemned · death · public execution · crossbeam
cage
Barred confinement structure
crows · ravens · chains · crossroads · warning · deterrent · rotting · decomposition · spectacle · public
pillory
Public punishment restraint
- stocksOwnership stakes or inventory
- scaffoldTemporary elevated work structure
- tortureDeliberate infliction of suffering
oubliette · rack · burning · heretic · traitor · Tower of London · medieval · Tudor · colonial · 18th-century
macabre
Disturbing, death-obsessed
sinister · grim · ghastly · haunting · foreboding · ominous · morbid · chilling · horror · spooky
capital punishment
Execution by legal authority
convict · felon · culprit · criminal · condemned · retribution · deterrence · justice · law · penalty
- feudal punishmentflogging, whipping, pillory, dungeon, gallows
- Georgian crimecapital offenses, death penalty, transportation, public execution, gallows
- medieval justicetrial by combat, trial by ordeal, trial by fire, trial by jury, ordeal
- punishmentsjail, prison, timeout, grounded, fine
- execution equipmentelectric chair, gallows, guillotine, gas chamber, lethal injection
- executionsexecution, execution chamber, guillotine, executioner, beheading
gibbetstate funeral
Official ceremony honoring deceased leader
monument · memorial · triumphal arch · mausoleum · cenotaph