Gallows is well-known as a noun, but began appearing as an adjective in the 1400s for miscreants presumed to deserve it. This term, first found in the late 1700s, is equal parts wickedness and ...

The blades were often etched with moralizing inscriptions and designs representing Justice (as here), the gallows ... "By the early 1700s swords were no longer primarily used in Europe for ...

Executions took place on public gallows in the middle of towns and cities ... people from committing the crime. Between 1500 and 1700, nearly all punishments took place in public, such as vagrants ...