▪ I. jaunt, v.
(dʒɔːnt, dʒɑːnt)
Also 6 iant.
[Of obscure origin; in 1 it appears to be more or less identical in sense with jaunce v.; but the phonetic relation is obscure: cf. jaunce n.]
I. † 1. trans. (?) To make (a horse) prance up and down; to exercise or tire a horse by riding him up and down. Obs.
| 1570 B. Googe Pop. Kingd. iv. 45 a, Then followeth Saint Stephens day, whereon doth euery man His horses iaunt and course abrode, as swiftly as he can. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 177 For euerie trifle leaue ianting thy nag, but rather make lackey of Jack boie thy wag. 1611 Cotgr., Iancer vn cheval, to stirre a horse in the stable till hee sweat withall: or (as our) to iaunt: an old word. |
† 2. intr. (?) To prance. Obs. rare.
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. iv. Handy-crafts 466 Th' angry Steed..All side-long iaunts, on eyther side he justles, And's waving Crest courageously he bristles. |
† 3. trans. To carry up and down on a prancing horse; to ‘cart about’ in a vehicle. Obs. rare.
| 1574 J. Studley tr. Bale's Pageant Popes vi. 126 b, He [Boniface VIII] was set vpon an vnbroken coult with his face to the horse tayle, and so caused to ride a gallop and iaunted til he were breathlesse. 1818 Cobbett Pol. Reg. XXXIII. 120 To get into a Grecian car, and to be drawn, with Minerva at his back..four or five miles through the streets of London..after having quietly suffered himself to be jaunted about in this manner [etc.]. |
† 4. intr. Of a person: To trot or trudge about (with the notion of exertion or fatigue); to run to and fro. Obs. or arch.
| 1575 Appius & Virginia in Hazl. Dodsley IV. 150 Why did I ride, run, and revel, And for all my jaunting now made a javel? 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. v. 53 (1st Qo.) Sending me about To catch my death with iaunting up and downe. 1706 Phillips, To Jaunt, to go, trot, or trudge up and down. 1771 Foote Maid of B. iii. Wks. 1799 II. 231 Running forwards and backwards to town, and jaunting to see all the fine sights. 1892 Cornh. Mag. Oct. 337 The one omnibus jaunts about seeking travellers. |
5. intr. To make a short journey, trip, or excursion; to take a jaunt, now, esp., for pleasure. Also † jaunt it.
| 1647 Stapylton Juvenal x. 183 He, to his Moores..o're the Pyren mountains jaunts. 1766 Garrick in G. Coleman's Posth. Lett. (1820) 292 We are jaunting it for a few days. 1803 E. S. Bowne in Scribner's Mag. (1888) II. 178/1, I am most tired of jaunting. 1848 C. C. Clifford tr. Aristophanes, Frogs 37 He'd to the market jaunt. 1895 Daily News 13 Feb. 5/5 The Lord Mayor and the Sheriffs [of Dublin] jaunting over to London with the petition presented themselves..at the door of the House. |
II. Influenced by jaunty a.
6. intr. To move jauntily: cf. jaunt n.1 3. rare.
| 1890 R. Bridges Shorter Poems ii. 8 Jaunt and sing outright As by their teams they stride. |
Hence ˈjaunting vbl. n., also used attrib.: cf. jaunting-car; ˈjaunting ppl. a.; ˈjauntingly adv., [from sense 6] jauntily.
| a 1616 Beaum. & Fl. Wit at sev. Weap. v. ii, ‘Las I'm weary with the walk, My jaunting days are done. 1813 J. C. Hobhouse Journey 858, I have seen a circle of French gentlemen..after the manner of our jaunting citizens, amusing themselves with a Jew conjuror. 1840 Hood Up the Rhine 7 In hopes the jaunting about a bit will make her forget the loss of her husband. 1839 New Monthly Mag. LVI. 70 With his forage-cap jauntingly cocked over one eye. |
▪ II. jaunt, n.1
(dʒɔːnt, dʒɑːnt)
Also 8 jant.
[Goes with jaunt v., which is evidenced a little earlier.
In sense 1, it varied with jaunce, whether as a real variant or from scribal confusion of t and c is uncertain.]
1. A fatiguing or troublesome journey. (Now only as an ironical use of 2: cf. a dance.)
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. v. 26 (1st Qo.) Lord how my bones ake: Fie what a iaunt [2nd Qo. iaunce, 1st Fol. iaunt] have I had. 1599 Warn. Faire Wom. ii. 270 Where have I been? where I have had a jaunt Able to tire a horse. 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth (1702) 215 This Part have I run over: and led my Reader a long and tedious Jaunt in tracing out these..mineral Bodies. 1727 Bailey vol. II, A Jaunt, a tedious, fatiguing Walk. 1752 J. Stewart in Scots Mag. (1753) 552/1, I arrived here, after a very troublesome jaunt. 1756 Washington Lett. Writ. 1889 I. 360 Last night I returned from a very long and troublesome jaunt on the Frontiers. 1879 Browning Ivan Ivanovitch 52 This rough jaunt—alone through night and snow. |
2. An excursion, a trip, or journey, esp. one taken for pleasure.
| 1678 R. L'Estrange Seneca's Mor. (1702) 413 The next day they take the same Jaunt over again. 1708 Motteux Rabelais v. xliii. (1737) 186 She..made him take a Jant [le feit cheminer] nine Times round the Fountain. 1725 G. Rochfort Let. to Swift in S.'s Wks. (1841) II. 577 If you have not got rid of your cold, I would prescribe a small jaunt to Belcamp this morning. 1736 H. Walpole Corr. (1820) I. 8, I have been a jaunt to Oxford. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 67 Your idle jaunts, taken for amusement only. 1809 N. Pinkney Trav. France 120 The French gentry of late have become so fond of jaunts of pleasure. 1866 Carlyle Remin. i. 203 He was on his marriage jaunt. |
† 3. Jaunty carriage of the body. Obs. rare—1.
| 1721 Amherst Terræ Fil. xlvi. (1726) 256 He has a delicate jaunt in his gait. |
▪ III. † jaunt, n.2 Obs. rare—0.
[F. jante (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.).]
A felloe of a wheel.
| 1706 Phillips, Jaunts, the Fellows of a Wheel. 1721 in Bailey; and in mod. Dicts. |