gibbets
Public execution frames
Gibbets are wooden structures used historically for public execution or display of corpses—typically an upright post with a projecting arm from which bodies were hanged or suspended in cages as a warning to others.
The word evokes grim medieval justice.
To gibbet someone is to hang them on such a structure, or figuratively to expose them to public ridicule and scorn: The press gibbeted him for his lies.
Penalty for an offense
- stocksOwnership stakes or inventory
- pilloryPublic punishment restraint
- deterrentThing that discourages action
- warningAlert about danger
medieval · Tudor · eighteenth-century · common-law · crossroads · hilltop · harbor · roadside
Temporary elevated work structure
- gallowsExecution hanging apparatus
- beamStructural support member
- crossbeamHorizontal structural member
- uprightVertical or morally sound
frame · timber · cage · chains · post · platform · pike · stake
punishment
Penalty for an offense
- stocksOwnership stakes or inventory
- pilloryPublic punishment restraint
- deterrentThing that discourages action
warning · medieval · Tudor · eighteenth-century · common-law · crossroads · hilltop · harbor · roadside · tarring
scaffold
Temporary elevated work structure
- gallowsExecution hanging apparatus
- beamStructural support member
- crossbeamHorizontal structural member
upright · frame · timber · cage · chains · post · platform · pike · stake · hook
hanging
Execution by noose
- nooseLoop that constricts
- ropeThick twisted fibers
- strangulationDeath by neck compression
death · corpse · body · remains · display · hangman · condemned · criminal · murderer · pirate
ominous
Suggesting something bad approaches
- forebodingFearful anticipation of harm
- macabreDisturbing, death-obsessed
- grimHarsh and foreboding
sinister · eerie · haunting · ghastly · morbid · chilling · dreadful · bleak · desolate · spectral
gibbetstombs
Chambers for the dead
mausoleums · crypts · sepulchers · shrines · memorial gardens