scapegallows means A criminal who has narrowly escaped from being hanged. It carries an Arena rating of 1719, earned across 223 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, scapegallows ranks #403 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #732 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #822 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #1,059 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
Why “scapegallows” is a great word
SCAPEGALLOWS — [Noun] A criminal who has narrowly escaped the lawful sentence of death by hanging. From the archaic scape (a form of escape) + gallows (the instrument of execution). Unlike a scapegrace, a wayward rogue, or an outlaw, one formally placed beyond legal protection, a scapegallows is defined by a singular, razor-thin evasion of the noose. He is the man whose pardon arrives with the hood already drawn, who walks from the gibbet with the ghostly rasp of hemp on his neck, who forever flinches at the creak of a particular wood—a life forever measured in the borrowed warmth of a reprieve he was meant to forfeit.
Etymology
From scape (archaic for escape) + gallows.
noun
- A criminal who has narrowly escaped from being hanged.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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