gallants

Noun

gallant (plural gallants)

1. (dated) A fashionable young man who is polite and attentive to women.
   • PROSPERO: […] this gallant which thou see'st / Was in the wrack; and but he's something stain'd / with grief,—that beauty's canker,—thou mightst call him / A goodly person […]1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...

   Synonyms:

   blade, blood, masher, barbermonger, beau, buck, carpet knight, cockscomb, dandy, dike

2. One who woos, a lover, a suitor, a seducer.
   • […] they were discovered in a very improper manner by the husband of the gypsy, who, from jealousy it seems, had kept a watchful eye over his wife, and had dogged her to the place, where he found her in the arms of her gallant.1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   adulterer, bed-hopper, carpetmonger, chamberer, debauchee, debaucher, fornicator, lecher, lewdster, libertine

3. A topgallant.

See all 14 meanings of gallant