Synonyms for gauntlet

Grammar : Noun

Spell : gawnt-lit, gahnt-

Phonetic Transcription : ˈgɔnt lɪt, ˈgɑnt-

Définition of gauntlet

Origin : "glove," early 15c., gantelet, from Old French gantelet (13c.) "gauntlet worn by a knight in armor," also a token of one's personality or person, and symbolizing a challenge, e.g. tendre son gantelet "throw down the gauntlet" (a sense found in English by 1540s); semi-diminutive or double-diminutive of gant "glove" (12c.), earlier wantos (7c.), from Frankish *wanth-, from Proto-Germanic *wantuz "glove" (cf. Middle Dutch want "mitten," East Frisian want, wante, Old Norse vöttr "glove," Danish vante "mitten"), which apparently is related to Old High German wintan, Old English windan "turn around, wind" (see wind (v.)).
The name must orig. have applied to a strip of cloth wrapped about the hand to protect it from sword-blows, a frequent practice in the Icelandic sagas. [Buck]
Italian guanto, Spanish guante are likewise ultimately from Germanic. The spelling with -u- was established from 1500s.

noun ordeal

Example sentences :

I have half a mind to go back for the little maiden's gauntlet.'
Extract from : « Micah Clarke » by Arthur Conan Doyle

And so, reluctantly, they led him down the gauntlet of widened eyes.
Extract from : « Ruggles of Red Gap » by Harry Leon Wilson

I flung my gauntlet of buffalo-hide at his feet in gage of battle.
Extract from : « The Shame of Motley » by Raphael Sabatini

But—he had watched Lestrange all day; he did not lift the gauntlet.
Extract from : « The Flying Mercury » by Eleanor M. Ingram

Dicksie smoothed her gauntlet in the assured manner natural to her.
Extract from : « Whispering Smith » by Frank H. Spearman

He drew on his gauntlet as he spoke, and turned his horse's head.
Extract from : « VC -- A Chronicle of Castle Barfield and of the Crimea » by David Christie Murray

T is going to be like running the gauntlet, to run that town, and we're most there.
Extract from : « The Long Roll » by Mary Johnston

The Army of the Valley had run the gauntlet, and in doing so had pushed the walls apart.
Extract from : « The Long Roll » by Mary Johnston

Most of them tried to run the gauntlet; few, however, got through.
Extract from : « The Story of a Cannoneer Under Stonewall Jackson » by Edward A. Moore

It is the casting of the die, Jane; it is the flinging down of the gauntlet.
Extract from : « A Modern Tomboy » by L. T. Meade

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Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019