cheat the hangman
verbEtymology
In full "cheat the hangman of his fee", since a hangman would not be paid if there was nobody to hang.
Definitions
To die, especially by suicide, while under sentence of death, or while guilty of a…
To die, especially by suicide, while under sentence of death, or while guilty of a capital crime; also, to kill someone else who is in such a state.
- Twelve were condemned to death by hanging, among them Göring, who cheated the hangman by swallowing a cyanide tablet in his cell.
To escape punishment for one's crimes
To escape punishment for one's crimes; to get away with something.
- Rozsa's escapes from the gendarmerie were followed closely by the invisible crowd, and every time he cheated the hangman his legend grew.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for cheat the hangman. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA