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gallant

adj
/ˈɡælənt//ɡəˈlænt/UK/ɡəˈlɑnt/US

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”).

  1. derived from *gailaz✻ — “merry; excited; luxurious”
  2. derived from *gail✻ — “merry; mirthful; proud; luxuriant”
  3. derived from *welh₁-✻ — “to choose, wish”
  4. derived from *wela✻
  5. derived from galant — “courteous; dashing; brave”
  6. inherited from galant

Definitions

  1. Brave, valiant, courteous, especially with regard to male attitudes towards women.

    • That gallant spirit hath aspired the clouds.

  2. Honorable.

  3. Grand, noble.

  4. ›+ 11 more definitions

    1. Showy

      Showy; splendid; magnificent; gay; well-dressed.

      • This town is built in a very gallant place.
      • our royal, good and gallant ship

    2. Polite and attentive to ladies

      Polite and attentive to ladies; courteous to women; chivalrous.

    3. A fashionable young man who is polite and attentive to women.

      • 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 […]

    4. 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.
      • The ignominy of that whisper'd tale / About a midnight gallant, seen to climb / A window to her chamber neighbour'd near, / I will from her turn off, and put the load / On the right shoulders; on that wretch's head, […]

    5. A topgallant.

    6. To attend or wait on (a lady).

      • to gallant ladies to the play

    7. To handle with grace or in a modish manner.

      • to gallant a fan

    8. To conduct, escort, convey.

      • ... and the canoes of Vivenza, locking their yard-arms into those of the vanquished, very courteously gallanted them into their coral harbors.

    9. To behave in a gallant fashion

      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[.]

    10. A surname.

    11. A census-designated place in Etowah County and St. Clair County, Alabama, United States,…

      A census-designated place in Etowah County and St. Clair County, Alabama, United States, named after a pioneer settler.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for gallant. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA