dance on a rope

present singular third person dances on a rope · participle present dancing on a rope · participle past danced on a rope · past danced on a rope

1. datedTo be hanged.

   He sat and watched him dancing on a rope, choking and fighting for every breath, until his tongue swelled up in his mouth and his face turned black and still he struggled.

   2011, Karen Maitland, The Gallows Curse

   2 more examples

   'Here. they arrest some jumped-up little rebel called Rose.' His finger hits nine o'clock. His voice rising with urgency. 'I meet her in my office, she shows no remorse. I think how lovely she'll look dancing on a rope.' He moves his finger close to the first line — the twelve o;clock line. 'I watch the bitch hang, the crowd turns and rips the gallows to the ground, then . . . Bam.'

   2018, Anna Day, The Fandom

   “I ain't no murderer and I don't care to dance on a rope!” “Me neither!” Gravelling's voice was just as shaky. “I'm lookin' at a few years, but not the hangman!”

   2022, Robert McCammon, The King of Shadows

   Synonyms: hang, swing, dance on nothing, dance the hempen jig, dance the Tyburn jig, dance upon nothing, dangle, hang

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see dance, rope.; to dance on a tightrope or slack rope as an entertainer.