What does "crack-hemp" mean?

A person who deserves to be, or is likely to be, hanged.

What is a synonym for "crack-hemp"?

Common synonyms include: crack-rope, gallows, gallows bird, hang dog, hangdog, hempie.

Crack-hemp

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A person who deserves to be, or is likely to be, hanged. obsolete
"Come hither, crackhempe."

Synonyms

All synonyms

crack-rope gallows gallows bird hang dog hangdog hempie

Example

More examples

"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."

Etymology

From crack + hemp.

More for "crack-hemp"

Synonyms Sentences Pronunciation Translate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonyms See usage examples Check pronunciation Browse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.