gallows vs hangman

gallows

noun
  • Wooden framework on which persons are put to death by hanging. 

  • The main frame of a beam engine. 

  • Any contrivance with posts and crossbeam for suspending objects. 

hangman

noun
  • An executioner responsible for hanging criminals. 

  • Someone responsible for hanging pictures and other artworks in a gallery, museum etc. 

  • A guessing game where one has to guess the word an opponent is thinking of by guessing one letter at a time, and involving the gradual drawing of a stick figure hanging from the gallows. 

How often have the words gallows and hangman occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )