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Gibbet

1. A kind of gallows; an upright post with an arm projecting from the top, on which, formerly, malefactors were hanged in chains, and their bodies allowed to remain asa warning.

2. The projecting arm of a crane, from which the load is suspended; the jib.

Origin: oe. Gibet, f. Gibet, in OF. Also club, fr. LL. Gibetum;; cf. OF. Gibe sort of sickle or hook, It. Giubbetto gibbet, and giubbetta, dim. Of giubba mane, also, an under waistcoat, doublet, Prov. It. Gibba (cf. Jupon); so that it perhaps originally signified a halter, a rope round the neck of malefactors; or it is, perhaps, derived fr. L. Gibbus hunched, humped, E. Gibbous; or cf. E. Jib a sail.