subs. phr. (old cant).—The gallows: see NUBBING-CHEAT, LADDER, and TREE.

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  1638.  RANDOLPH, Hey for Honesty, iv. 1.

          Car.  This is a rascal deserves to ride up Holborn,
And take a pilgrimage to the TRIPLE TREE,
To dance in hemp Derrick’s coranto.

2

  1641.  R. BROME, A Joviall Crew, i. What they may do hereafter under a TRIPLE-TREE, is much expected.

3

  1694.  MOTTEUX, Rabelais, IV. xvi. That very hour from an exalted TRIPLE TREE two of the honestest gentlemen in Catchpoleland had been made to cut a caper on nothing.

4

  d. 1704.  T. BROWN, Works, iii. 62. A wry mouth on the TRIPLE TREE puts an end to all discourse about us.

5

  1855.  C. G. LELAND, Meister Karl’s Sketch-Book.

        For whether I sink in the foaming flood, or swing on the TRIPLE TREE,
Or die in my bed, as a Christian should, is all the same to me.

6