Gault
name, noun ·1 syllable ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A type of stiff, blue clay, sometimes used for making bricks. countable, uncountable
"As he spoke, they turned off the main line of the rolling clays toward the foot of the chalk hills, and began to brush through short cuttings of blue gault and "green sand," so called by geologists, because its usual colours are bright brown, snow-white, and crimson."
- 1 A surname.
Example
More examples"As he spoke, they turned off the main line of the rolling clays toward the foot of the chalk hills, and began to brush through short cuttings of blue gault and "green sand," so called by geologists, because its usual colours are bright brown, snow-white, and crimson."
Etymology
Of local origin, used by quarrymen and brickmakers to refer to the type of soil. First attested in writing as "golt" in 1815 (William Smith) and "gault" in 1816 (J Hailstone).
In some cases, from Middle English galt(e) (“boar”), from or related to Old Norse gǫltr. In other cases, from Old French gaut (“woods”) (as in placenames like Le Gault), from Proto-West Germanic *walþu.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.