gauntlet
Meanings
Plural: gauntlets
Noun
- to offer or accept a challenge
- "threw down the gauntlet"
- "took up the gauntlet"
- a glove of armored leather; protects the hand
- a glove with long sleeve
- a form of punishment in which a person is forced to run between two lines of men facing each other and armed with clubs or whips to beat the victim
- Protective armor for the hands, formerly thrown down as a challenge to combat.
- A long glove covering the wrist.
- A rope on which hammocks or clothes are hung for drying.
- An eruption of pellagra on the hands.
- Two parallel rows of attackers who strike at a criminal as punishment.
- A simultaneous attack from two or more sides.
- Any challenging, difficult, or painful ordeal, often one performed for atonement or punishment.
- Overlapping parallel rail tracks; either to allowing passage through a narrow opening in each direction without switching, or to allow vehicles of a larger gauge to pass through a station without hitting the platforms.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English gauntelett, gantlett, a borrowing from Old French gantelet (“gauntlet worn by a knight in armor, a token of one's personality or person, and symbolizing a challenge”), diminutive of gant (“glove”), a borrowing from Frankish *want (“glove; mitten”) and reinforced by Medieval Latin wantus (“glove”) itself borrowed from the former, from Proto-Germanic *wantuz (“glove; mitten”). Cognate with Dutch want (“mitten; shroud”), German Low German Want (“shroud”), Danish vante (“mitten”), Swedish vante (“glove; mitten”), Faroese vøttur (“glove; mitten”).
Synonyms
gantlet, metal glove
Scrabble Score: 9
gauntlet is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordgauntlet is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
gauntlet is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary