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GAUNTLET (a diminutive of the Fr. gan...

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 534 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GAUNTLET (a diminutive of the Fr. gant, See also:glove)  , a large See also:form of See also:glove, and especially the See also:steel-plated glove of See also:medieval See also:armour . To " run the See also:gauntlet," i.e. to run between two rows of men who, armed with sticks, rope-ends or other weapons, See also:beat and strike at the See also:person so See also:running, was formerly a See also:punishment for military and See also:naval offences . It was abolished in the Prussian See also:army by See also:Scharnhorst . As a method of torturing prisoners, it was employed among the See also:North See also:American See also:Indians . " Gauntlet " (earlier " gantlet ") in this expression is a corruption of " gantlope," from a See also:Swedish gatlope, from See also:gate, See also:lane, and lopp, a course (cf . Ger. gassenlaufen, to run the gauntlet) . According to the New See also:English See also:Dictionary the word became See also:familiar in See also:England at the See also:time of the See also:Thirty Years' See also:War .

End of Article: GAUNTLET (a diminutive of the Fr. gant, glove)
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