GAUNTLET

 

GAUNTLET

 

Origin: 

 

Swedish word ‘gatlopp’ which was borrowed into English with the meaning “military punishment in which the offender runs between rows of men who beat him in passing.”

 

Pronunciation:

 

Ghaant-let – or - Ghoant-let

(gh)கான்ட்லெட்  - or  – கோன்ட்லெட்

  

Literal meaning:  Stout hand-glove

 

Idiomatic meanings:

 

RUN THE GAUNTLET: (1)

 

Meaning:  If you have to RUN THE GAUNTLET, it means, you have to go through a place where people are trying to harm or humiliate you, for example, by attacking you or shouting insults at you.

 

Example sentence:

 

The celebrity was forced to RUN A GAUNTLET of some 300 jeering demonstrators, waving placards denouncing him as a ‘demon’.

 

RUN THE GAUNTLET: (2)

 

Meaning: If you have to RUN THE GAUNTLET of some kind of unpleasant behaviour, you have to suffer it because of something you are trying to achieve.

 

Example Sentence:

 

Every day, he had to RUN THE GAUNTLET of hostile journalists asking him embarrassing questions on his way to workplace.

 

 

TAKE UP THE GAUNTLET / PICK UP THE GAUNTLET:

 

If YOU TAKE UP THE / PICK UP THE GAUNTLET, it means you respond to something which seems like a challenge by showing that you accept the challenge.

 

Example Sentence:

 

When the reigning heavyweight champion boasted that nobody could beat him, no one expected Mr. X, a newcomer, to TAKE UP THE GAUNTLET.

 

THROW DOWN THE GAUNLET:

 

Meaning:  If you throw down the gauntlet, it means, you do or say something that challenges someone to take action or to compete against you.

 

Example Sentences:

 

To THROW DOWN THE GAUNTLET is to issue a challenge.

 

One cannot be expected to THROW DOWN THE GAUNTLET in all fields.

 

A price war looks likely now that a leading supermarket HAS THROWN DOWN THE GAUNTLET to its competitors.

 

Proverb:

 

Every tide has its ebb.

ஏற்றம் உண்டானால் இறக்கமும் உண்டு.

 

GOOD MORNING

 

(R.SAMPATH)

11/9/2020