• n. 長手套；（古時士兵戴的）金屬護手；夾道鞭笞的刑罰；交叉射擊；嚴酷考驗

1.金屬手套，詞源同wind, 纏繞，編織，即織成的手套。在中世紀向別人發出挑戰時則擲手套于地，如果對方撿起手套，則是接受挑戰。

2.嚴酷考驗，來自瑞典語gatlopp, 即gate leap. 原為軍事術語，當某人犯錯誤的時候，要從人墻里穿過去，接受同伴的鞭笞，棍杖。

gauntlet

gauntlet: The gauntlet of ‘run the gauntlet’ has no etymological connection with gauntlet ‘glove’ [15]. The latter was borrowed from Old French gantelet, a diminutive form of gant ‘glove’. This was originally a Germanic loanword, with surviving relatives in Swedish and Danish vante ‘glove’. As for ‘running the gauntlet’, it was to begin with ‘running the gantlope’, in which gantlope signified ‘two lines of people armed with sticks, who attacked someone forced to run between them’.

This was borrowed in the 17th century from Swedish gatlopp, a descendant of Old Swedish gatulop ‘passageway’; this was a compound noun formed from gata ‘way’ (related to English gate, gait) and lop ‘course’ (related to English leap and lope). Under the influence of gauntlet ‘glove’, English changed gatlopp to gantlope, and thence to gantlet (now restricted in use to an ‘overlapping section of railway track’) and gauntlet (as in ‘run the gauntlet’).
=> gait, gate, leap, lope

gauntlet (n.1)

"glove," early 15c., gantelet, from Old French gantelet (13c.) "gauntlet worn by a knight in armor," also a token of one's personality or person, and in medieval custom symbolizing a challenge, as in tendre son gantelet "throw down the gauntlet" (a sense found in English by 1540s). The Old French word is a semi-diminutive or double-diminutive of gant "glove" (12c.), earlier wantos (7c.), from Frankish *wanth-, from Proto-Germanic *wantuz "glove" (cognates: Middle Dutch want "mitten," East Frisian want, wante, Old Norse v?ttr "glove," Danish vante "mitten"), which apparently is related to Old High German wintan, Old English windan "turn around, wind" (see wind (v.)).

The name must orig. have applied to a strip of cloth wrapped about the hand to protect it from sword-blows, a frequent practice in the Icelandic sagas. [Buck]

Italian guanto, Spanish guante likewise are ultimately from Germanic. The spelling with -u- was established from 1500s.

gauntlet (n.2)

military punishment in which offender runs between rows of men who beat him in passing; see gantlet.

1. She picked up the gauntlet in her incisive Keynote Address to the Conference.

在大會主題發言中，她言辭犀利地回應挑戰。

來自柯林斯例句

2. They have thrown down the gauntlet to the PM by demanding a referendum.

他們向首相挑戰,要求進行公民投票.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

3. He was not one to retreat but rather one who would take up the gauntlet.

他不是一個想退卻的人,倒是一個寧愿應戰的人.

來自《現代漢英綜合大詞典》

4. Luxury car firm Jaguar has thrown down the gauntlet to competitors by giving the best guarantee on the market.

豪華轎車生產商捷豹公司推出了市場上最誘人的保修服務，向競爭對手發出了挑戰。

來自柯林斯例句

5. The trucks tried to drive to the British base, running the gauntlet of marauding bands of gunmen.

卡車隊試圖沖過幾幫劫匪的火力網開赴英軍基地。

來自柯林斯例句