| 释义 |
▪ I. gaunt, a.|gɔːnt, gɑːnt|
Forms: 5 gawnt(e, 6 ga(u)nte, 6–7, 9– (U.S. dial.) gant, 6– gaunt.
[Of unknown origin: Prof. Skeat compares Norw. gand thin pointed stick, tall thin man (Aasen), and Sw. dial. gank a lean and nearly starved horse (Rietz).
All other words in -aunt (exc. flaunt) are of Fr. origin. The prevailing early use might suggest that the word was a graphic adoption of gant = OF. gent, gent, elegant.]
†1. In favourable or neutral sense: Slim, slender, not fat. Obs.
c1440Promp. Parv. 189/1 Gawnt or lene, maciolentus [sic]. Gawnte or swonge (K. or slendyr), gracilis. 1546St. Papers Hen. VIII, XI. 230 The King..was nothing so lusty nor so gaunte, when I saw him last, as He is nowe..I wold not haue beleved He had byne in so good case as He is nowe, if I had not sene Him myself. 1549Latimer 5th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 154 Sodaynelye, she was gaunte agayne [after childbirth]. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 154 b, The Dogge that is for the folde, must neither be so gaunt nor swift as the Grayhounde, nor so fatte nor heavy as the masty. 1601Holland Pliny II. 152 They who feed ouermuch, and desire to be gant and slender..ought to forbear drinking at meales. 1657W. Coles Adam in Eden cl. 229 It [groundsell] is much used to be given to tame Rabbets when they are pot-bellyed..to make them gaunt and healthfull. 1684R. H. School Recreat. 10 If you would chuse a swift, light Hound..he ought to have a slender Head..broad Back, gaunt Belly, small Tail..and in fine, of a Grey-hound-like make. 1690Lond. Gaz. No. 2572/4 One light grey Mare, comes 7, about 15 hands, a gant Body. 1703Thoresby Let. to Ray (E.D.S.), Gant, lusty, hearty and healthful. [Cf. quot. 1546 above.] 1736Pegge Kenticisms (E.D.S.), Gant, of a greyhound, or a racehorse, being thin in the flanks. [1848Thackeray Van. Fair lvii, He was quite well (though as gaunt as a greyhound) before they reached the Cape.]
2. Abnormally lean, as from hunger; haggard-looking; tall, thin, and angular in appearance.
c1440[see 1]. 1581Mulcaster Positions xxxiii. (1887) 119 If the colour begin to faint, or the bodie to be gaunt. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, ii. i. 74 Oh how that name befits my composition: Old Gaunt indeed, and gaunt in being old. Ibid. 82 Gaunt am I for the graue, gaunt as a graue. 1639G. Daniel Ecclus. xiii. 59 For what Alliance, what relation Hath the gant Wolfe wth the Innocent Lamb? 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 144 Gaunt are his Sides, and sullen is his Face. 1815Scott Guy M. ii, His tall, gaunt, awkward bony figure, attired in a thread-bare suit of black. 1882Ouida Maremma I. 17 A tall gaunt woman with blue eyes and snow-white hair.
fig.1809Heber Palestine 261 Wide-wasting plague, gaunt famine, mad despair.
b. Hungry, greedy, ravenous. rare.
1746Smollett Reproof 125 Gorg'd with our plunder, yet still gaunt for spoil, Rapacious Gideon fastens on our isle.
3. transf. Of inanimate things: Grim or desolate of aspect; † (of a sound), suggestive of desolation.
1814Prophetess i. v, Like the gaunt echo of a hollow tomb. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop i, I had, ever before me, the gaunt suits of mail with their ghostly silent air—the faces all awry. 1871Besant & Rice Ready Money Mortiboy i, Mortiboy's parlour is a gaunt cold room. 1874Mahaffy Soc. Life Greece xi. 349 Human art has been thrust..even into hostility with our stern and gaunt devoutness. 1876T. Hardy Ethelberta (1890) 93, I am at present..surrounded by gaunt realities. 1886Hall Caine Son of Hagar ii. xiv, Paul walked among the naked trees of the gaunt wood at the foot of Coledale.
4. Comb., as gaunt-bellied, gaunt-looking adjs.
1629Gaule Holy Madn. 324 Is he not mostly..Gaunt belly'd. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xi. 70 Mounds of ice..split into high towers and gaunt-looking pyramids.
Hence ˈgaunted a., made lean or meagre; starved.
1583Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 55 Lyke rauening woolfdams vpsoackt and gaunted in hunger. 1887Scribner's Mag. Oct. 475/2 Looks right puny an' ga'nted. 1890D. S. Cage in Shields Big Game N. Amer. 476 A gorged Wolf is not fast..but when properly ‘gaunted’, few horses can catch a Gray Wolf. 1909R. A. Wason Happy Hawkins 333 His face was pale..an' he was ganted down in weight a little.
▪ II. gaunt
see gant. |
