galluses

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   chiefly US dialect, usually plural: straps worn over the shoulders to hold up trousers; suspenders or braces

   The older man wore home-knit galluses, although one strap was missing.

The plural of gallus, a dialectal respelling of gallows with reduction of the final vowel. Gallows itself once had a dated clothing sense for suspenders, perhaps from the straps' resemblance to a hanging frame.

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