Dictionary

gallows bird en · NOUN

Etymology

From gallows + bird. Compare German construction Galgenvogel (literally “gallows-fowl" or "gallows-bird”), and French gibier de potence, as well as similar English jailbird.

Meanings

1. (archaic) A person who deserves, or is likely, to be hanged.
   • The story of the man who bit off his father's nose for rearing him as a gallows bird is as old as Aesop, but no known source before Brant mentions the son's name. 2012, Sebastian Brant, The Ship of Fools:
   • Everybody along Long Wharf knows you called him a gallows bird. He's not used to it. 1943, Esther Hoskins Forbes, Johnny Tremain:
   • Before me stood not Philippe but a gallows bird no respectable citizen would want to meet up with on a lonely road. 2015, Paul Steinberg, Speak You Also: A Holocaust Memoir:

Forms

Hypernyms

criminal · villain

Relateds

die by hanging · hangworthy · kill by hanging · jailbird

Synonyms

scapegallows · hangdog · hangdog · gallows · wag-halter · gallows bird · crack-hemp · hang dog · crack-rope · slip-halter · wag-halter · hempie

Translations (18)

fr pendard (person who deserves to be hanged) · hu akasztófáravaló (person who deserves to be hanged) · de Galgenvogel (person who deserves to be hanged) · nl galgenaas (person who deserves to be hanged) · eo nutraĵo de eŝafodo (person who deserves to be hanged) · bg обесник (person who deserves to be hanged) · ka სათოკე (person who deserves to be hanged) · ka ჩამოსახრჩობელი (person who deserves to be hanged) · ga crochadóir (person who deserves to be hanged) · la crux (person who deserves to be hanged) · es carne de patíbulo (person who deserves to be hanged) · hu akasztófavirág (person who deserves to be hanged) · ga ropaire gaid (person who deserves to be hanged) · uk ши́беник (person who deserves to be hanged) · it pendaglio da forca (person who deserves to be hanged) · fr gibier de potence (person who deserves to be hanged) · et võllaroog (person who deserves to be hanged) · ru ви́сельник (person who deserves to be hanged)