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Webster 1913 Edition

Gallant

Gal′lant

(găl′lant)
,
Adj.
[F.
gallant
, prop.
p. pr.
of OF.
galer
to rejoice, akin to OF.
gale
amusement, It.
gala
ornament; of German origin; cf. OHG.
geil
merry, luxuriant, wanton, G.
geil
lascivious, akin to AS.
gāl
wanton, wicked, OS.
gēl
merry, Goth.
gailjan
to make to rejoice, or perh. akin to E.
weal
. See
Gala
,
Galloon
.]
1.
Showy; splendid; magnificent; gay; well-dressed.
The town is built in a very
gallant
place.
Evelyn.
Our royal, good and
gallant
ship.
Shakespeare
2.
Noble in bearing or spirit; brave; high-spirited; courageous; heroic; magnanimous;
as, a
gallant
youth; a
gallant
officer.
That
gallant
spirit hath aspired the clouds.
Shakespeare
Syn. –
Gallant
,
Courageous
,
Brave
.
Courageous is generic, denoting an inward spirit which rises above fear; brave is more outward, marking a spirit which braves or defies danger; gallant rises still higher, denoting bravery on extraordinary occasions in a spirit of adventure. A courageous man is ready for battle; a brave man courts it; a gallant man dashes into the midst of the conflict.

Gal-lant′

(?; 277)
,
Adj.
Polite and attentive to ladies; courteous to women; chivalrous.

Gal-lant′

(?; 277)
,
Noun.
1.
A man of mettle or spirit; a gay, fashionable man; a young blood.
Shak.
2.
One fond of paying attention to ladies.
3.
One who wooes; a lover; a suitor; in a bad sense, a seducer.
Addison.
☞ In the first sense it is by some orthoëpists (as in Shakespeare) accented on the first syllable.

Gal-lant′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Gallanted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Gallanting
.]
1.
To attend or wait on, as a lady;
as, to
gallant
ladies to the play
.
2.
To handle with grace or in a modish manner;
as, to
gallant
a fan
.
[Obs.]
Addison.

Webster 1828 Edition

Gallant

GAL'LANT

,
Adj.
[Eng. could; L. gallus, a cock.]
1.
Gay; well dressed; showy; splendid; magnificent.
Neither shall gallant ships pass thereby. Is.33.
The gay, the wise, the gallant, and the grave.
[This sense is obsolete.]
2.
Brave; high-spirited; courageous; heroic; magnanimous; as a gallant youth; a gallant officer.
3.
Fine; noble.
4.
Courtly; civil; polite and attentive to ladies; courteous.

Definition 2024

gallant

gallant

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɡælənt/
  • Rhymes: -ælənt

Adjective

gallant ‎(comparative more gallant, superlative most gallant)

  1. Brave, valiant.
  2. Honorable.
    • 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterI:
      Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
  3. Grand, noble.
  4. (obsolete) Showy; splendid; magnificent; gay; well-dressed.
Translations
Related terms

Etymology 2

From French

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɡəˈlænt/, /ˈɡælənt/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ɡəˈlɑnt/, /ˈɡælənt/
  • Rhymes: -ænt

Adjective

gallant ‎(comparative more gallant, superlative most gallant)

  1. Polite and attentive to ladies; courteous to women; chivalrous.
Translations

Noun

gallant ‎(plural gallants)

  1. (dated) Fashionable young man, who is polite and attentive to women.
    • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 1 scene 2
      PROSPERO: [...] this gallant which thou see'st / Was in the wrack; and but he's something stain'd /with grief,—that beauty's canker,—thou mightst call him / A goodly person [...]
  2. One who woos, a lover, a suitor, a seducer.
    • 1819, John Keats, Otho the Great, Act III, Scene II, verses 140-143
      The ignominy of that whisper’d tale
      About a midnight gallant, seen to climb
      A window to her chamber neighbour’d near,
      I will from her turn off, […]
  3. An animal or thing of grey colour, such as a horse, badger, or salmon.
    • Sir Walter Scott
      Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day, / That costs thy life, my gallant grey.
  4. (nautical) topgallant
Translations

Verb

gallant ‎(third-person singular simple present gallants, present participle gallanting, simple past and past participle gallanted)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To attend or wait on (a lady).
    to gallant ladies to the play
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To handle with grace or in a modish manner.
    to gallant a fan

References

  • gallant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Welsh

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɡaɬant/

Verb

gallant

  1. (literary) third-person plural present / future of gallu

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
gallant allant ngallant unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Etymology

From Middle English galant, galaunt, from Old French galant ‎(“courteous; dashing; brave”), present participle of galer ‎(“to rejoice; make merry”), from gale ‎(“pomp; show; festivity; mirth”); either from Frankish *wala- ‎(“good, well”), from Proto-Germanic *wal-, from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- ‎(“to choose, wish”); or alternatively from Frankish *gail ‎(“merry; mirthful; proud; luxuriant”), from Proto-Germanic *gailaz ‎(“merry; excited; luxurious”), related to Dutch geil ‎(“horny; lascivious; salacious; lecherous”), German geil ‎(“randy; horny; lecherous; wicked”), Old English gāl ‎(“wanton; wicked; bad”).

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