Gantlet

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Gantlet \Gant"let\, n. [Gantlet is corrupted fr. gantlope;
     gantlope is for gatelope, Sw. gatlopp, orig., a running down
     a lane; gata street, lane + lopp course, career, akin to
     l["o]pa to run. See {Gate} a way, and {Leap}.]
     A military punishment formerly in use, wherein the offender
     was made to run between two files of men facing one another,


     who struck him as he passed.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     {To run the gantlet}, to suffer the punishment of the
        gantlet; hence, to go through the ordeal of severe
        criticism or controversy, or ill-treatment at many hands.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Winthrop ran the gantlet of daily slights.
                                                    --Palfrey.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Written also, but less properly, gauntlet.
           [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Gantlet \Gant"let\, n.
     A glove. See {Gauntlet}.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  gantlet
       n 1: to offer or accept a challenge; "threw down the gauntlet";
            "took up the gauntlet" [syn: {gauntlet}]
       2: a glove of armored leather; protects the hand [syn: {gauntlet},
           {metal glove}]
       3: a glove with long sleeve [syn: {gauntlet}]
       4: the convergence of two parallel railroad tracks in a narrow
          place; the inner rails cross and run parallel and then
          diverge so a train remains on its own tracks at all times
       5: a form of punishment in which a person is forced to run
          between two lines of men facing each other and armed with
          clubs or whips to beat the victim [syn: {gauntlet}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  45 Moby Thesaurus words for "gantlet":
     battle cry, bid to combat, brass knuckles, cesta, cestus,
     challenge, confinement, dare, defi, defy, dismemberment,
     double dare, estrapade, gage, gage of battle, galleys, gauntlet,
     glove, handwear, hard labor, impalement, imprisonment,
     incarceration, jailing, keelhauling, kid gloves, kids, martyrdom,
     mittens, mitts, mousquetaire gloves, mousquetaires, muff,
     penal servitude, picketing, railriding, rebel yell, rock pile,
     strappado, tar-and-feathering, the gantlet, torment, torture,
     war cry, war whoop