gallows tree

noun

gallows tree

noun

Etymology From earlier gallow tree, from Middle English galowetre, galwe tree, from Old English gealgtrēow, equivalent to gallows + tree. Cognate with Danish galgetræ, Swedish galgträd, Norwegian galgetre, Icelandic gálgatré. Compare also West Frisian galgebeam, German Galgenbaum.

A tree used as a gallows, a tree from which people are hanged (killed by hanging).

Synonyms: hanging tree
Hypernyms: tree

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.