gauntlet

Meaning

Noun

• Protective armor for the hands, formerly thrown down as a challenge to combat.
• A long glove covering the wrist.
• A rope on which hammocks or clothes are hung for drying.
• Two parallel rows of attackers who strike at a criminal as punishment
• Simultaneous attack from two or more sides
• Any challenging, difficult, or painful ordeal, often one performed for atonement or punishment
• A temporary convergence of two parallel railroad track allowing passage through a narrow opening in each direction without switching.

Origin

• 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, a borrowing from Frankish *wantu and reinforced by Medieval Latin wantus ("glove") itself borrowed from the former, from Proto-Germanic *wantuz. Cognate with Dutch want, German Low German Want, Danish vante, Swedish vante, Faroese vøttur.
• Modified, under the influence of etymology 1, from gantlope, from Swedish gatlopp ("passageway"), from Old Swedish gata ("lane") + lopp, from löpa