Other forms: gibbets
A gibbet is a post where executed criminals were hung on display. Hung in a gibbet, the gibbet at the crossroads, left on the gibbet.
The body was left in an iron cage as a warning, often for years, and gibbets stood at crossroads and on hills where they could be seen from a distance. The practice ended in Britain in 1834.
1noungibbetA post where executed criminals were hung on display.
“The highwayman's body was left hanging on a gibbet at the crossroads.”
gibbet is a post.
Old French gibet names the gallows, perhaps from a Frankish word for a forked stick.
Latin
gibbus — hunchbacked
Frankish
*gibb — forked stick
Old French
gibet
Middle English
gibet
English, today
gibbet
From Middle English gibet, from Old French gibet (French gibet), either from Frankish gibb (“forked stick”) or from Latin gibbus (“hunchbacked”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA