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gauntest

 - 3 dictionary results

gaunt

[gawnt]
–adjective, -er, -est.
1. extremely thin and bony; haggard and drawn, as from great hunger, weariness, or torture; emaciated.
2. bleak, desolate, or grim, as places or things: a gaunt, windswept landscape.

Origin:
1400–50; late ME, prob. < OF gaunet, jaunet yellowish, deriv. of gaune, jaune yellow < L galbinus greenish-yellow


gauntly, adverb
gauntness, noun


1. lean, spare, scrawny, lank, angular, rawboned. See thin.


1. stout.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To gauntest
gaunt   (gônt)   
adj.   gaunt·er, gaunt·est
  1. Thin and bony; angular. See Synonyms at lean2.

  2. Emaciated and haggard; drawn.

  3. Bleak and desolate; barren.


[Middle English, perhaps from Old French gant, possibly of Scandinavian origin.]
gaunt'ly adv., gaunt'ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

gaunt 
1440, from M.Fr. gant, of uncertain origin; perhaps from a Scand. source (cf. O.N. gand "a thin stick," also "a tall thin man").
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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