Word of the Day

: September 4, 2023

gauntlet

noun GAWNT-lut

What It Means

Gauntlet was first used in English to refer to the reinforced glove worn with a suit of armor in the Middle Ages. Gauntlet later came to refer to any long, heavy glove worn to protect the hand, as well as to an open challenge to an argument, fight, competition, etc., usually in the common phrase “throw down the gauntlet.”

// In marketing the product this way, the company has thrown down the gauntlet to its top two competitors.

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gauntlet in Context

“WGA [Writers Guild of America] and SAG [Screen Actors Guild] sought a residual formula that would give standardization and certainty to creators and performers. The talent, a spokesman for the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists said in 1960, is ‘entitled to get a portion of all this money that is floating around. It is as simple as that. Where would everybody be without talent?’ The WGA threw down the gauntlet first. On Jan. 16, 1960, citing ‘a consistently uncompromising attitude on the part of producers,’ WGA president Curtis Kenyon, a former screenwriter now toiling in television, called a ‘two-pronged’ strike against both film and television production.” — Thomas Doherty, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 July 2023

Did You Know?

There’s no reason to treat the word gauntlet with kid gloves, so let’s go straight to the punch: gauntlet (which comes from the Middle French word gantelet, the diminutive of gant, meaning “glove”) first referred to the reinforced glove of a suit of armor, but today it’s mostly encountered in figurative phrases, such as “throw down the gauntlet” and “pick up the gauntlet,” that arose from the conventions of medieval combat. To challenge someone to combat, a knight would throw his glove at another knight’s feet. The second knight would pick the glove up if he intended to accept the challenge, in which case a jousting match might ensue. Accordingly, to throw down the gauntlet is to issue an open challenge, while to pick up the gauntlet is to accept one. (The gauntlet that means “severe trial,” or “ordeal,” often used in the phrase “run the gauntlet,” is an alteration of gantelope, a word that originates from Swedish gata, meaning “lane” or “way.”)