gallant
UK /ɡəˈlænt/ · US /ɡəˈlɑnt/ adjective, noun, verb, proper noun
Forms gallants gallanting gallanted gallaunt
- adjective Brave, valiant, courteous, especially with regard to male attitudes towards women.
- adjective Honorable.
- adjective Grand, noble.
- adjective (obsolete) Showy; splendid; magnificent; gay; well-dressed.
- adjective Polite and attentive to ladies; courteous to women; chivalrous.
- noun (dated) A fashionable young man who is polite and attentive to women.
- noun One who woos, a lover, a suitor, a seducer.
- noun (nautical) A topgallant.
- verb (obsolete, transitive) To attend or wait on (a lady). “to gallant ladies to the play”
- verb (obsolete, transitive) To handle with grace or in a modish manner. “to gallant a fan”
- verb (transitive) To conduct, escort, convey.
- verb To behave in a gallant fashion; to act the gallant.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun A census-designated place in Etowah County and St. Clair County, Alabama, United States, named after a pioneer settler.
Synonyms
blade blood masher barbermonger beau buck carpet knight cockscomb dandy dike dood dude dudelet exquisite fashionable fast man fine gentleman fop foretop fribble sheik swell fashion plate clotheshorse squire dashing lofty majestic proud chivalrous
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.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Showy; splendid; magnificent; gay; well-dressed.
- adjective Noble in bearing or spirit; brave; high-spirited; courageous; heroic; magnanimous; as, a gallant youth; a gallant officer.
- adjective Polite and attentive to ladies; courteous to women; chivalrous.
- noun A man of mettle or spirit; a gay; fashionable man; a young blood.
Etymology [F. gallant, prop. p. pr. of OF. galer to rejoice, akin to OF. gale amusement, It. gala ornament; of German origin; cf. OHG. geil merry, luxuriant, wanton, G. geil lascivious, akin to AS. g wanton, wicked, OS. g merry, Goth. gailjan to make to rejoice, or perh. akin to E. weal. See Gala, Galloon.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “gallant”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details