gaunt

See also: Gaunt

English

Alternative forms
  • gant (dialectal, Scotland)
  • gent (Scotland)

Etymology

From Middle English gawnt, gawnte (“lean, slender”), from Old French jaunet, probably from a Scandinavian/North Germanic source, related to Old Norse gandr (“magic staff, stick”), from Proto-Germanic *gandaz (“stick, staff”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen- (“to beat, hit, drive”).

Cognates:
Cognate with Icelandic gandur (“magic staff”), Norwegian gand (“tall pointed stick; tall, thin man”), Danish gand, gan, Norwegian gana (“cut-off tree limbs”), Bavarian Gunten (“a kind of wedge or peg”). Related also to Old English gūþ (“battle”), Latin dēfendō (“ward off, defend”). Compare also dialectal Swedish gank (“a lean, emaciated horse”).

Pronunciation
  • enPR: gônt, IPA(key): /ɡɔːnt/
  • (some accents) enPR: gänt, IPA(key): /ɡɑːnt/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔːnt, -ɑːnt

Adjective

gaunt (comparative gaunter, superlative gauntest)

  1. Lean, angular, and bony.
    • 1866, Herman Melville, Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War‎, The Portent:
      Hanging from the beam,
      Slowly swaying (such the law),
      Gaunt the shadow on your green,
      Shenandoah!
    • 1894, Joseph Jacobs, chapter 1, in The Fables of Aesop‎:
      A gaunt Wolf was almost dead with hunger when he happened to meet a House-dog who was passing by.
  2. Haggard, drawn, and emaciated.
    • 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 239:
      Far away I saw a gaunt cat slink crouchingly along a wall, but traces of men there were none.
    • 1917, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 5, in His Last Bow‎:
      In the dim light of a foggy November day the sick room was a gloomy spot, but it was that gaunt, wasted face staring at me from the bed which sent a chill to my heart.
  3. Bleak, barren, and desolate.
    • 1896, Mary Baker Eddy, “The Way”, in Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896‎, page 355:
      The present stage of progress in Christian Science presents two opposite aspects, — a full-orbed promise, and a gaunt want.
    • 1908, William Hope Hodgson, chapter 14, in The House on the Borderland‎:
      Behind me, rose up, to an extraordinary height, gaunt, black cliffs.

Synonyms

Translations

References

Anagrams

Scots

Alternative forms

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

gaunt

  1. To yawn.

Noun

gaunt (plural gaunts)

  1. A yawn.
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