From Middle English gibet, from Old French gibet (French gibet), either from Frankish *gibb (“forked stick”) or from Latin gibbus (“hunchbacked”).. Attested since the 1660s, of uncertain origin.
Perhaps related to jib (“shift or swing around”) (see below).. 1. gallows sense 1a 2.
an upright post with a projecting arm for hanging the bodies of executed criminals as a warning.. Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition.
Copyright © 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Word origin. prob. < gibbet.
COBUILD .... The old name for a dispenser of medicines.
The Greek word really implies a storehouse or depository; 15it is compounded out of apo, to put away, and theke, ....