Definition

Noun: 1. An executioner whose method is hanging: A person, historically an official, whose job is to carry out executions by hanging condemned criminals. 2. A paper-and-pencil guessing game: A word game for two or more players where one player thinks of a word and the other(s) try to guess it by suggesting letters, with each incorrect guess resulting in the drawing of a part of a stick figure being hanged.

Examples

• Noun (Executioner):

  • The hangman placed the noose around the prisoner's neck.
  • In historical accounts, the hangman was often a feared and solitary figure.

• Noun (Game):

  • We played hangman to pass the time during the long car ride.
  • Can you guess the word in hangman before the drawing is complete?

Advanced Usage

• "To play hangman": The standard phrase for engaging in the word game.
  • The children decided to play hangman while waiting for class to start.

Variants and Related Words

• Hanging (n): The act or instance of executing someone by suspending them by the neck.
  • The hanging was scheduled for dawn.
• Executioner (n): A more general term for a person who carries out a death sentence.

Synonyms

• Executioner (for the first meaning).
• Word game (for the second meaning, though this is a broader category).

Related Idioms

• While not a direct idiom, the phrase "the hangman's noose" is a common collocation referring to the rope used for hanging.
  • He was sentenced to face the hangman's noose.

Noun

1. an executioner who hangs the condemned person