GALLOWS, an instrument of punishment, whereon persons convicted capitally of felony, &c. are executed by hanging.
Among our ancestors it was called furca, "fork;" a name by which it is still denominated abroad, particularly in France and Italy. In this latter country,
Gallus
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Galway.
the reason of the name still subsists; the gallows being a real fork drove into the ground, across the legs whereof is laid a beam, to which the rope is tied. See PURCA.