▪ I. gait, n.1
(geɪt)
Also 6–8 gate, 7 gaite.
[A particular use of gate n.2, q.v. for the other senses, now chiefly Sc. and dial., ‘way’, ‘road’, ‘going’, ‘course’, etc.
Until the 17th c. the spelling gait was rare exc. Sc.; before the middle of the 18th c. it became universal for this sense of the word, which was the only one that survived in general literary use.]
a. Manner of walking or stepping, bearing or carriage while moving, walk, step. Also fig., esp in phr. to go one's (own) gait, to go one's own way; to pursue one's own course. (For literal senses of this phr. see gang v.1 1 b, gate n.2)
| 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 19 Their gate and looke proude and abhominable. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 600 Scarse thy legs uphold thy feeble gate. 1660 Stanley Hist. Philos. ix. (1701) 372/1 He considered their presence and their gaite, and the whole motion of their body. 1663 Butler Hud. i. i. 427 He was well stay'd, and in his gate Preserv'd a Grave, Majestick State. 1726–7 Swift Gulliver i. iv, We can plainly discover one of his heels higher than the other; which gives him a hobble in his gait. 1752 Fielding Amelia iii. xi, With this face and in the most solemn gait she approached Amelia. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 192 Its restless gait and odd chuckling sound distinguish it sufficiently from all other birds. 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) iii. Introd., My limping gait. 1834 McMurtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 338 Their gait in general is very slow. 1865 Kingsley Herew. i, He was more fit from his gait to be a knight than a monk. 1865 ‘Mark Twain’ Celebr. Jumping Frog (1867) 37 Preachin' was his nateral gait. 1874 L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) I. vii. 241 Our great writers generally settle down to a stately but monotonous gait, after the fashion of Johnson. 1922 J. B. Priestley Papers from Lilliput 31 Caring little whether he is still a shepherd or metamorphosed into a fisherman or cobbler, so long as he is still with us, going his own fantastic gait. 1940 H. Read Annals of Innocence ii. ii. 82 These are qualities to be enjoyed by non-poetic people: the poet must go his own gait. 1958 Times 4 Oct. 9/5 Miss Watts, whose voice is of the right weight and gait for Bach. |
b. pl., esp. of a horse: Paces.
| 1684 Lond. Gaz. No. 1916/4 Lost..a black Gelding..the near Foot behind White, a small Star, and all his gates very well. 1709 Ibid. No. 4540/8 Stoln or strayed..a Bay Gelding..hath all his Gates. a 1717 Parnell Anacreontic vii, Cupid mock'd his stammring Tongue With all his staggring Gaits. 1890 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. III. 195 In photographing the various gaits of a saddle horse, it is best to [etc.]. |
c. Comb.: † gait-trip, manner of walking.
| 1583 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 40 Too moothers counsayl thee fyrye Cupido doth harcken Of puts he his feathers, fauoring with gatetrip Iulus. |
Hence ˈgaited ppl. a., having a (specified) gait or manner of walking or stepping.
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iii. i. 56 You must send the Asse vpon the Horse for he is verie slow gated. 1593 ― Rich. II, iii. ii. 15 Let thy Spiders, that suck vp thy Venome, And heauie-gated Toades lye in their way. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 128 So many..heauy-gated lumberers into the Ministry are stumbled. 1712 Lond. Gaz. No. 5037/15 Lost..a..Gelding..extraordinary well Gated. |
▪ II. gait, n.2 dial.
(geɪt)
Also 8 geate.
(See quots.)
| 1788 W. Marshall Yorksh. Gloss. II. 330 Gait, a single sheaf of corn, bound near the top, and set upon its butts. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 158 When the geates are dry, or ready to be gathered in. 1825 Loudon Agric. §2940 When the single sheaves (gaites) have remained in this position for a few days, if [etc.]. 1893 Northumbld. Gloss., Gait, sheaves set up singly in a corn field. |
▪ III. gait, n.3 dial.
(geɪt)
[app. a special use of gate n.2, act of going; cf. gang in the same sense.]
(See quot. 1854.)
| 1827 Clare Sheph. Cal. 162 Or gait of water from the pump to fetch. 1854 A. E. Baker Northamptonsh. Gloss. s.v., A gait of water is two buckets carried with a yoke; evidently from gait a going, as much as a man can walk with. |
▪ IV. gait, v.1 dial.
(geɪt)
Also 8 gate, geat.
[f. gait n.2]
trans. To set up (reaped corn) in single sheaves or ‘gaits’ to dry.
| 1797 Bailey & Culley View Agric. Northumbld. 95 Wheat is set up in stooks of twelve sheaves each; oats and barley are (‘gated’) set up in single sheaves. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 794 Gaiting and hutting the corn. 1844 Stephens Bk. of Farm III. 1066, I would not hesitate to gait any sort of oats when wet with dew in the morning. |
Hence ˈgaiting vbl. n., the action of the vb.; also concr. = gait n.2
| 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 157 This practice is provincially called geating. 1825 Brockett N. Country Wds., Gaitings, single sheaves of corn set up to dry. |
▪ V. gait, v.2 dial. or techn.
(geɪt)
[app. f. gait gate n.2; cf. ‘to set agate’.]
trans. To put in working order, fix up.
| 1846 Brockett's N. Country Wds. (ed. 3) s.v., To gait in Lancashire, is to prepare a loom for weaving. 1869 Eng. Mech. 12 Nov. 217/3 Will any of your numerous readers be kind enough to inform me of the best plan of gaiting a pair of cart wheels, so that they run with ease and freedom? Ibid. 26 Nov. 264/3 ‘Lancasterian’ may gait his wheels by placing a straight edge to the back of the nave, parallel with the face of the spoke, then take the level [read bevel] along the inside of the buss [etc.]. 1895 Bury Times 6 Apr. 6/3 He had gaited a great many looms. |
▪ VI. gait
northern form of goat.
▪ VII. gait
var. get n., Sc., offspring, child.