Noun

1. Protective armor for the hands.
   • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 22:

     The hands were defended by Gauntlets, these were sometimes of chain mail, but oftener of small plates of iron rivetted together, in imitation of the lobster's tail, so as to yield every motion of the hand, some gauntlets inclosed the whole hand, as in a box or case, others were divided into fingers, each finger consisting of eight or ten separate pieces, the inside gloved with buff leather, some of these reached no higher than the wrist, others to the elbow; the latter were stiled long armed gauntlets: many of them are to be seen in the Tower; for a representation of one of them, see plate 26, fig 6.

2. Two parallel rows of attackers who strike at a criminal as punishment
3. Simultaneous attack from two or more sides
4. Any challenging, difficult, or painful ordeal, often one performed for atonement or punishment

Related terms

• running the gauntlet
• to take up the gauntlet
• to throw down the gauntlet