gaunt, gawnte, gant

[Etym. doubtful. Skeat suggests a connection with Norwegian gand (= gant )=athin, pointed stick, a tall and thin man.] Attenuated, thin; lean as with fasting or sickne . "But his gaunt frame was worn with toil." Scott: Marmion, i. 28. gaunt-at-the-door, s. A booby; an indolent bumpkin. "He gave but little application to his le ons, so that folk thought he would turn out a sort of gaunt - at - the - door , more mindful of meat than work."- Galt : Ann. of the Par., p. 335. gauzy gâunt'-lět, *gant-let, s . [Fr. ganteleta gaunt let; gant a glove, from O. Sw. wante a glove; Dan. vante ; Dut. want a mitten.] I. Ordinary Language: 1. In the same sense as II. 1. 2. A long glove worn by ladies, covering the hand and wrist. 3. A mitten. II. Technically : 1. Old Arm.: A glove of leather, covered with plate-metal to correspond with the other parts of the armor, and originally made without separate fingers, they being by large overlapping plates. "When a knight's glove was a steel gauntlet , such a distinction would be reasonable enough." -Tylor: Early Hist . Mankind , ch. iii. 2. Surg .: A sort of bandage used to cover the hand and wrist, like a gauntlet. (1) To run the gauntlet : [See GANTLET, Mil . Supra .] (2) To take up the gauntlet : To accept a challenge. ( Lit. & fig .) (3) To throw down the gauntlet : To challenge, to defy. ( Lit. & fig .) "The company threw down the gauntlet to all the mar i. time powers in the world." -Macaulay: Hist . Eng ., ch. xxiv. gâunt-lý, adv. [Eng. gaunt; -ly.] In a gaunt manner or state; leanly.