Definition of Hangman

Handkerchief

HANGMAN noun

	An officer of the law charged with duties of the highest dignity and utmost gravity, and held in hereditary disesteem by a populace having a criminal ancestry. In some of the American States his functions are now performed by an electrician, as in New Jersey, where executions by electricity have recently been ordered -- the first instance known to this lexicographer of anybody questioning the expediency of hanging Jerseymen.

		definition from: *The Devil's Dictionary* by Ambrose Bierce, 1911

Happiness

Regular definition:

HANGMAN:
?hæ?m?n n. (pl. -men) 1 an executioner who hangs condemned persons. 2 a word-game for two players, in which the tally of failed guesses is kept by drawing a representation of a gallows.

Last updated: 9/3/2011 12:48:30