gauntlets

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
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.

See all 9 meanings of gauntlet