gantlet, gauntlet, gamut

gantlet, gauntlet, gamut
One may run a gantlet (a former kind of military punishment). One may also run a gamut (a series of musical notes or the whole range of anything). But one may not run a gauntlet because it is a kind of glove."To take up the gauntlet" ("to accept a challenge") and "to throw down the gauntlet" ("to challenge to combat") are correct but hackneyed expressions.

Dictionary of problem words and expressions. . 1975.

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  • gantlet, gauntlet —    Traditionally in American English, a distinction has been observed between the two. A gantlet was a double line of people armed with blunt weapons through which a thief or other miscreant was forced to run as a form of punishment. Hence the… …   Dictionary of troublesome word

  • gantlet, gauntlet —    Traditionally in American English, a distinction has been observed between the two. A gantlet was a double line of people armed with blunt weapons through which a thief or other miscreant was forced to run as a form of punishment. Hence the… …   Dictionary of troublesome word

  • gauntlet — See gantlet. See gantlet, gauntlet, gamut …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • gantlet — See gantlet, gauntlet, gamut …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • gamut — See gantlet, gauntlet, gamut …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • gamut —    signifies a range of items, originally the notes in a musical scale, but now anything that reasonably describes a series. The sense, however, should be one of completeness. You might say that a collection of chemicals runs the gamut from… …   Dictionary of troublesome word

  • Running the gauntlet — (alternative spellings gantlet and rarely gantlope or gantelope) is a form of physical punishment wherein a man is compelled to run between two rows a gauntlet of soldiers who strike him as he passes.Roman predecessorFustuarium (a Latin… …   Wikipedia

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