gantlope Now rare exc. in the more corrupt form gauntlet2.
(ˈgæntləʊp)
Forms: 7–8 gant(e)lop, 7 gantloop, 8 gauntlope, 7– gant(e)lope.
[corruptly a. Sw. gatlopp, MSw. gatu-lop (f. gata lane, gate n.2 + lopp course).
ON. had gǫtuþiófr, explained as a thief punished by running the ‘gantlope’. The Sw. word prob. became known in England through the Thirty Years' War; the equivalent gassenlaufen is found in Ger.]
A military (occas. also naval) punishment in which the culprit had to run stripped to the waist between two rows of men who struck at him with a stick or a knotted cord. rare exc. in to † pass, run the gantelope.
| 1646 Shaftesbury Diary 11 Apr. in W. D. Christie Life (1871) I. 34 Three were condemned to die, two to run the gantelope. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Gantlope (Ghent Lope), a punishment of Souldiers, first invented at Ghent..and therefore so called. 1706 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) VI. 90 The regency of Saxony..caused..400 to run the gantlope, for not doing their duty. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones vii. xi, Others [said] that he deserved to run the gantlope. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 175 In the Piedmontese service, every offence of this nature is punished with the gantlope. 1807 J. Milner Martyrs i. ii. 51 They were ordered to run the gantelope between the hunters..and were severely lashed. |
| transf. and fig. 1649 T. Ford Lus. Fort. *2 Being now exposed to run the Gantelope of the Worlds censure. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. x. i. §25 This Petition ran the Gantlop throughout all the Prelaticall party. 1662 Petty Taxes 55 When a new Invention is first propounded..the poor Inventor runs the Gantloop of all petulent wits. a 1694 Tillotson Serm. (1742) III. 140 We cannot but wonder..that in running the gantlope of a long life..we have escaped so free. 1747 Gentl. Mag. 233, I ran the gantlop thro' a number of soldiers to an obliging landlord. 1754 Richardson Grandison VI. xxv, To run the female gauntlope. 1785 Drinkwater Hist. Siege Gibraltar (1786) 329 They were in this manner obliged to pass the gantlope of our fire. 1804 J. Larwood No Gun Boats 8 We must re-run the gantelope of our Bounties and Recruitings. 1836 Edin. Rev. LXIV. 71 No doubt he ran the usual gantelope of jokes. |