stretch hemp
verbEtymology Ropes of the gallows would often be made from hemp.
1
To be hanged.
- If that fellow comes up here, he will see us; if we let him go the Johnnies will have us, and inside of twenty-four hours we will have been tried by a drumhead court-martial and the whole six of us sentenced to stretch hemp. Now, it is better, in my opinion, that he should stretch hemp than we six; so, if he comes up here, I'll put this noose around his neck and the first chance we get we will jump him into the river.1882, William Rattle Plum, The Military Telegraph During the Civil War in the United States: