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gauntlet
1[ gawnt-lit, gahnt- ]
noun
- a medieval glove, as of mail or plate, worn by a knight in armor to protect the hand.
- a glove with an extended cuff for the wrist.
- the cuff itself.
gauntlet
2[ gawnt-lit, gahnt- ]
noun
- a former punishment, chiefly military, in which the offender was made to run between two rows of men who struck at him with switches or weapons as he passed.
- the two rows of men administering this punishment.
- an attack from two or all sides.
- trying conditions; an ordeal.
verb (used with object)
gauntlet
1/ ˈɡɔːntlɪt /
noun
- a medieval armoured leather glove
- a heavy glove with a long cuff
- take up the gauntletto accept a challenge
- throw down the gauntletto offer a challenge
gauntlet
2/ ˈɡɔːntlɪt /
noun
- a punishment in which the victim is forced to run between two rows of men who strike at him as he passes: formerly a military punishment
- run the gauntlet
- to suffer this punishment
- to endure an onslaught or ordeal, as of criticism
- a testing ordeal; trial
- a variant spelling of gantlet 1
Other Words From
- gauntlet·ed adjective
- un·gauntlet·ed adjective
Word History and Origins
Origin of gauntlet1
Word History and Origins
Origin of gauntlet1
Origin of gauntlet2
Idioms and Phrases
- run the gauntlet, to suffer severe criticism or tribulation.
- take up the gauntlet / glove,
- to accept a challenge to fight:
He was always willing to take up the gauntlet for a good cause.
- to show one's defiance.
- throw down the gauntlet / glove,
- to challenge.
- to defy.
More idioms and phrases containing gauntlet
see run the gauntlet ; throw down the gauntlet .Example Sentences
As you walk up from the station, through Massy's gauntlet of squat apartment blocks, you pass youngsters wearing kits from around the world - Arsenal, Juventus and Real Madrid.
But both had approached their brutal Big Ten slates in need of a statement, some kind of sign that showed their new teams could survive the gauntlet to come.
If anyone thought the Kings were hoping to stare across the ice, look the Oilers in the eyes and throw down the gauntlet, he wasn’t among them.
Each year, they walk from the Stoop, across a bridge crossing the Chertsey Road, through a gauntlet of home fans and into Twickenham.
The PM said the plan would "land on desks around Whitehall with the heavy thud of a gauntlet being thrown down".
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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