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Gallant
Definitions
- 1 Brave, valiant, courteous, especially with regard to male attitudes towards women.
"That gallant spirit hath aspired the clouds."
- 2 Polite and attentive to ladies; courteous to women; chivalrous.
"I admire all that quaint, old-fashioned politeness; it is much more to my taste than modern ease; modern ease often disgusts me. But this good old Mr. Woodhouse, I wish you had heard his gallant speeches to me at dinner. Oh! I assure you I began to think my caro sposo would be absolutely jealous."
- 3 Honorable.
"Captain Edward Carlisle[…]felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze,[…]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard."
- 4 Grand, noble.
- 5 Showy; splendid; magnificent; gay; well-dressed. obsolete
"This town is built in a very gallant place."
- 1 unflinching in battle or action wordnet
- 2 being attentive to women like an ideal knight wordnet
- 3 having or displaying great dignity or nobility wordnet
- 4 lively and spirited wordnet
- 1 A surname. countable, uncountable
- 2 A census-designated place in Etowah County and St. Clair County, Alabama, United States, named after a pioneer settler. countable, uncountable
- 1 A fashionable young man who is polite and attentive to women. dated
"PROSPERO: […] this gallant which thou see'st / Was in the wrack; and but he's something stain'd / with grief,—that beauty's canker,—thou mightst call him / A goodly person […]"
- 2 a man who is much concerned with his dress and appearance wordnet
- 3 One who woos, a lover, a suitor, a seducer.
"[…] they were discovered in a very improper manner by the husband of the gypsy, who, from jealousy it seems, had kept a watchful eye over his wife, and had dogged her to the place, where he found her in the arms of her gallant."
- 4 a man who attends or escorts a woman wordnet
- 5 A topgallant.
- 1 To attend or wait on (a lady). obsolete, transitive
"to gallant ladies to the play"
- 2 To handle with grace or in a modish manner. obsolete, transitive
"to gallant a fan"
- 3 To conduct, escort, convey. transitive
"... and the canoes of Vivenza, locking their yard-arms into those of the vanquished, very courteously gallanted them into their coral harbors."
- 4 To behave in a gallant fashion; to act the gallant.
"How different is the young, fun-loving, comical, quizzing, gallanting Captain Arthur Wellesley, when residing in his shooting lodge between Summerhill and Dangan, from the stern, cautious, careworn Fabius of the Peninsular war[.]"
Etymology
From Middle English galant, galaunt, from Old French galant (“courteous; dashing; brave”), present participle of galer (“to rejoice; make merry”), from gale (“pomp; show; festivity; mirth”); either from Frankish *wala (“good, well”), a variant form of *wela, from Proto-Germanic *wela (whence well), from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to choose, wish”); or alternatively from Frankish *gail (“merry; mirthful; proud; luxuriant”), from Proto-Germanic *gailaz (“merry; excited; luxurious”), related to Dutch geil (“horny; lascivious; salacious; lecherous”), German geil (“randy; horny; lecherous; wicked”), Old English gāl (“wanton; wicked; bad”).
17th-century borrowing from French galant. See above.
17th-century borrowing from French galant. See above.
17th-century borrowing from French galant. See above.
See also for "gallant"
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