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gauntlet

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gauntlet¹

  • /ˈɡɔːnt.lət/

Where it comes from

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”).

noun gauntlets · gantlet

  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 fingers,
  2. A long glove covering the wrist. The hawk no longer darts forth from the gauntlet to soar through the air for his prey.
  3. A rope on which hammocks or clothes are hung for drying.
  4. An eruption of pellagra on the hands.

gauntlet²

Where it comes from

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

]

noun gauntlets · gantlet

  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.
  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.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: metal glove, glove, mitt, noose, clamp, vise, stranglehold, grip, boxing, catcher, kid, challenge, call, defiance, vice, gantlet

Translations

Every language

noun protective armor for the hands

Españolguantelete
日本語籠手 kote
中文鐵手套 /铁手套 tiěshǒutào
Portuguêsmanopla
Françaisgantelet
DeutschKampfhandschuh, Fehdehandschuh, Panzerhandschuh
Italianoguanto di armatura
Русскийперча́тка perčátka, ла́тная рукави́ца látnaja rukavíca, рукави́ца rukavíca

noun glove covering the wrist

DeutschStulpe

noun two parallel rows of attackers who strike at a criminal

DeutschSpießrutenlauf

noun any challenging, difficult, or painful ordeal

Françaisparcours du combattant
DeutschSpießrutenlauf

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Cite this
MLA

"gauntlet." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/gauntlet. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

gauntlet. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/gauntlet

Chicago

"gauntlet." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/gauntlet.

BibTeX
@misc{gauntlet_2026,
  title = {gauntlet},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/gauntlet},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}