GAUNTLET (a diminutive of the Fr. gant,

See also:

• GLOVE (O. Eng. glof, perhaps connected with Gothic lofa, the palm of the hand)

glove)  , a large form of glove, and especially the steel-plated glove of medieval armour . To " run the gauntlet," i.e. to run between two rows of men who, armed with sticks, rope-ends or other weapons, beat and strike at the person so running, was formerly a punishment for military and naval offences . It was abolished in the Prussian army by Scharnhorst . As a method of torturing prisoners, it was employed among the North American Indians . " Gauntlet " (earlier " gantlet ") in this expression is a corruption of " gantlope," from a Swedish gatlope, from gate, lane, and lopp, a course (cf . Ger. gassenlaufen, to run the gauntlet) . According to the New English Dictionary the word became familiar in England at the time of the Thirty Years' War .