Gault (?), n. [Cf. Norw. gald hard ground, Icel. gald hard snow.]
(Geol.) A series of beds of clay and marl in the South of England,
between the upper and lower greensand of the Cretaceous period.
||Gaul*the"ri*a (?), n. [NL.] (Bot.) A genus of ericaceous shrubs with
||evergreen foliage, and, often, edible berries. It includes the
||American winter- green (Gaultheria procumbens), and the
||larger-fruited salal of Northwestern America (Gaultheria Shallon).
Gaunt (?), a. [Cf. Norw. gand a thin pointed stick, a tall and thin
man, and W. gwan weak.] Attenuated, as with fasting or suffering; lean;
meager; pinched and grim. "The gaunt mastiff." Pope.
A mysterious but visible pestilence, striding gaunt and fleshless
across our land.
Nichols.
Gaunt"let (?), n. (Mil.) See Gantlet.
Gaunt"let (?), n. [F. gantelet, dim. of gant glove, LL. wantus, of
Teutonic origin; cf. D. want, Sw. & Dan. vante, Icel. vˆttr, for
vantr.] 1. A glove of such material that it defends the hand from
wounds.
The gauntlet of the Middle Ages was sometimes of chain mail, sometimes
of leather partly covered with plates, scales, etc., of metal sewed to
it, and, in the 14th century, became a glove of small steel plates,
carefully articulated and covering the whole hand except the palm and
the inside of the fingers.