esp. The steps to a gallows. Chiefly in to bring to the ladder. groom of the ladder (jocular): a hangman. Obsolete.

in reference to hanging or ducking a person from the extremity of a yard as a punishment.

transferred. In plural. The two upright posts of a gallows; also humorously, in singular, a man's leg; particularly, a wooden leg.

A small platform or trapdoor on the gallows, on which the condemned stands with the halter round his neck, and which is let fall from under his feet…

The bolt of the drop on a gallows.