Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Cruciarius
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich.
CRUCIA'RIUS. A criminal executed upon the cross (crux) by hanging (Pet. Sat. 112. 5. cruciarii parentes detraxerunt pendentem); hence, a worthless fellow, like our gallows-bird. Apul. Met. x. p. 215.