gallant

English

Alternative forms

• gallaunt (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From Old French galant (“courteous, dashing”), present participle of galer (“make merry”)

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɡælənt/
• Rhymes: -ælənt

Adjective

gallant (comparative more gallant, superlative most gallant)

1. brave, valiant
2. honourable
3. grand, noble

Translations

brave, valiant

Finnish: urhea (fi), uljas (fi) French: brave (fr) m. Italian: valoroso (it) m.

Spanish: gallardo (es) m., valiente (es)

honourable

Esperanto: galanta (eo) Finnish: kunniallinen (fi), ritarillinen (fi) Ido: galanta (io)

Italian: galante (it), gentiluomo (it) m., cavaliere (it) m. Spanish: cortés (es)

Related terms

• gallantly
• gallantry

Etymology 2

From French

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ɡəˈlænt/, /ˈɡælənt/
• (US) IPA: /ɡəˈlɑnt/, /ˈɡælənt/
• Rhymes: -ænt

Adjective

gallant (comparative more gallant, superlative most gallant)

1. Very polite with women.

Translations

very polite with women

Czech: galantní (cs) Portuguese: galã (pt) m.

Romanian: galant (ro) Vietnamese: ga-lăng (vi)

Noun

gallant (plural gallants)

1. (dated) fashionable young man, who is polite and attentive to women
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 whlsper’d tale

     About a midnight gallant, seen to climb

     A window to her chamber neighbour’d near,

     I will from her turn off, […]

3. (nautical) variant of topgallant

References

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