gauntlet 1
n.
5ME < OFr gantelet, dim. of gant, a glove < Frank *want, a mitten, akin to EFris wante6
1 a medieval glove, usually of leather covered with metal plates, worn by knights in armor to protect the hand in combat: see ARMOR, illus.
2 a) a long glove with a flaring cuff covering the lower part of the arm b) the flaring cuff
take up the gauntlet
1 to accept a challenge
2 to undertake the defense of a person, etc.
throw down the gauntlet to challenge, as to combat

gauntlet2
n.
see GANTLET1 (n. 1)


Posted by Barney Scott on October 09, 2000 at 15:39:29:

In Reply to: "Run the gauntlet" posted by Hilary on October 09, 2000 at 12:28:41:

: Does anyone know the meaning/origin of the term "run the gauntlet"?
From Brewer's Phrase and Fable (online at www.bibliomania.com/Reference/PhraseAndFable)
Gauntlet (g hard). To run the gantlet. To be hounded on all sides. Corruption of gantlope, the passage
between two files of soldiers. (German, ganglaufen or
gassenlaufen.) The reference is to a punishment common among sailors. If a companion had disgraced
himself, the crew, provided with gauntlets or ropes' ends,
were drawn up in two rows facing each other, and the delinquent had to run between them, while every
man dealt him, in passing, as severe a chastisement as he
could.
The custom exists among the North American Indians. (See Fenimore Cooper and Mayne Reid.)
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