释义 |
gallows-bird|ˈgæləzbɜːd| [f. gallows n. + bird n.] One who deserves to be hanged. Also occas., one who has been hanged.
1785Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Gallows bird, one that deserves hanging. 1796Ibid. (ed. 3), Gallows bird, a thief or pick-pocket; also one that associates with them. 1828Scott F.M. Perth ii, Had this been in another place, young gallow's bird, I had stowed the lugs out of thy head. 1860Reade Cloister & H. II. i. 11 ‘It is ill to check sleep or sweat in a sick man’, said he. ‘I know that far, though I ne'er minced ape nor gallows-bird’. 1888Harper's Mag. LXXVI. 415 The famous converted ‘gallows bird’..proclaims the good word in lamentable accents. |