crack-rope
nounEtymology From crack + rope.
1
Obsolete A person who deserves to be, or is likely to be, hanged; a gallows bird.
- Jack. Master, I handled you not, but who did handle you very handsomely, you can tell. Carisophus. Handsomely, thou crack-rope?1564, Richard Edwardes, Damon and Pythias; republished in King, Ros, editor, The Works of Richard Edwards, Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2001, page 153:
- Then let him be led through every ſtreete in yᵉ towne, / That every crackrope, may throw rottē egs at yᵉ clown.1584, Anthony Munday, edited by Percy Simpson, Fidele and Fortunio, the Two Italian Gentlemen, The Malone Society, published 1909, page [55]:
1 more example
- Hark ye, ye crack-rope padder, born beggar, and bred thief!1818, Sir Walter Scott, The Heart of Midlothian (Waverley Novels; 7), London: Adam and Charles Black, published 1898, page 307:
- Synonyms
- crack-hemp, gallows bird, wag-halter