crack-hemp

English

Etymology

crack +‎ hemp

Noun

crack-hemp (plural crack-hemps)

1. (obsolete) A person who deserves to be, or is likely to be, hanged.

   Synonyms: gallows bird, hangdog, wag-halter; see also Thesaurus:gallows bird

   • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 226, column 2:

     Come hither, crackhempe.

   • 1820, Sir Walter Scott, The Abbot (Waverley Novels), page 246:

     Even in the Castle of Avenel thou wert a wild blood enough, but hadst thou been nurtured here, within a flight shot of the court, thou hadst been the veriest crack-hemp of a page that ever wore a feather in thy bonnet or steel by thy side: truly, I wish it may end week with thee.