Word.ws English Dictionary

gauntlet

/ˈɡɔːnt.lət/

gauntlet noun: protective armor for the hands, formerly thrown down as a challenge to combat.

gauntlet: protective armor for the hands, formerly thrown down as a challenge to combat
Image: Rama, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

gauntlet (plural gauntlets)

  1. Protective armor for the hands, formerly thrown down as a challenge to combat.
    • The hands were defended by Gauntlets, these were sometimes of chain mail, but oftener of small plates of iron rivetted together, in imitation of the lobster's tail, so as to yield every motion of the hand, some gauntlets inclosed the whole hand, as in a box or case, others were divided into...1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, pages 22–23
  2. A long glove covering the wrist.
    • The hawk no longer darts forth from the gauntlet to soar through the air for his prey.1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 40
    • Solventproof rubber gauntlets under solventproof sleeves closed at the wrists should be worn.1969, Lance William DeStwolinski, Occupational Health in the Construction Industry, page 235
  3. A rope on which hammocks or clothes are hung for drying.
  4. An eruption of pellagra on the hands.

Noun (2)

gauntlet (plural gauntlets)

  1. (archaic) Two parallel rows of attackers who strike at a criminal as punishment.
  2. A simultaneous attack from two or more sides.
  3. (figuratively) Any challenging, difficult, or painful ordeal, often one performed for atonement or punishment.
    • [John] Winthrop ran the gantlet of daily slights from his neighbors.1858, John Gorham Palfrey, chapter XII, in History of New England during the Stuart Dynasty. […], volume I, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, and Company, →OCLC, book I, page 481
  4. A fight against swarms of relatively minor enemies in the form of multiple waves, often but not always preceding a boss.
  5. 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.

gauntlet meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

gauntlet in Hindi

गौंटलेट, गॉनटलेट, गैंटलेट

gauntlet in Tamil

நீள் கையுறை, அங்க, புறங்க மூடியக் கட்டு, மூடிய கக்கட்டு, கைக்கவசம்

gauntlet in Marathi

गौंटलेट, गँटलेट

gauntlet in Urdu

آہنی دستانہ
More languagesFewer languages
gauntlet in Bengali
গন্টলেট, গাউন্টলেট
gauntlet in Telugu
గౌంట్లెట్
gauntlet in Malayalam
ഗൌണ്ട്ലെറ്റ്, ഗൌണ്ട്ലറ്റ്
gauntlet in Kannada
ಕೈಕವಚ, ಕೈಚೀಲ, ಹಸ್ತತ್ರಾಣ, ಕೈಗವಸು
gauntlet in Punjabi
ਗੌਂਟਲੈੱਟ, ਗੌਂਟਲੇਟ, ਗੌਂਟਲੈਟ
gauntlet in Gujarati
ગૌન્ટલેટ, ગૌંટલેટ, ગોન્ટલેટ
gauntlet in Odia
ଗାଉଣ୍ଟଲେଟ୍, ଗାଣ୍ଟଲେଟ୍, ଗନ୍ଟଲେଟ୍
gauntlet in Nepali
गन्टलेट, गाउन्टलेट, गौन्टलेट
gauntlet in Tagalog
guwantelete

Examples of gauntlet in a sentence

  • He doesn't read Greek, but he took up the gauntlet and did his best to understand the letter, anyway.
  • Cuphead is a difficult gauntlet through a ton of bosses, from evil clowns to bossy queen bees.
  • The iron gauntlet on the beastkeeper’s scarred arm glowed when he touched it.

All 34 example sentences with gauntlet

Forms of gauntlet

pluralgauntlets
alternative USgantlet

Plural of gauntlet: gauntlets

Origin of gauntlet

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”).

Modified, under the influence of etymology 1, from gantlope, from Swedish gatlopp (“passageway”), from Old Swedish gata (“lane”) + lopp (“course”), from löpa (“to run”) ]

Words formed from gauntlet

Phrases with gauntlet

Questions about gauntlet

What does gauntlet mean?
Gauntlet means protective armor for the hands, formerly thrown down as a challenge to combat.
What is gauntlet in Hindi?
Gauntlet in Hindi is गौंटलेट, गॉनटलेट, गैंटलेट. See Gauntlet meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is gauntlet?
Gauntlet is a noun.
How do you pronounce gauntlet?
Gauntlet is pronounced /ˈɡɔːnt.lət/.
What is the plural of gauntlet?
The plural of gauntlet is gauntlets.

Words near gauntlet in the dictionary

  1. gaunpalikas
  2. gaunt
  3. gaunted
  4. gaunter
  5. gauntest
  6. gauntlet
  7. gauntleted
  8. gauntlets
  9. gauntletted
  10. gauntlope
  11. gauntlopes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gauntlet (page history and authors); gauntlet (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gauntlet (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); gauntlet (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gauntlet (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); gauntlet (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gauntlet (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gauntlet (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gauntlet (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); gauntlet (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gauntlet (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gauntlet (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gauntlet (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gauntlet.wav.

Cite this entry: “gauntlet.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gauntlet. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.