crack-hemp

plural crack-hemps · alternative crackhemp

1. obsoleteA person who deserves to be, or is likely to be, hanged.

   Come hither, crackhempe.

   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

   1 more example

   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.

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

   Synonyms: gallows bird, hangdog, wag-halter, crack-rope, gallows, gallows bird, hang dog, hangdog