gallant

English

Alternative forms

• gallaunt (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From Old French galant (“courteous, dashing”), present participle of galer (“make merry”), thought to be from Frankish *wala- (“good, well”), from Proto-Germanic *wal-, from Proto-Indo-European *(e)welǝ- (“to choose, wish”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɡælənt/
• Rhymes: -ælənt

Adjective

gallant (comparative more gallant, superlative most gallant)

1. Brave, valiant.
2. Honorable.
3. Grand, noble.

Translations

brave, valiant

• Finnish: urhea (fi), uljas (fi)
• French: brave (fr) m
• Italian: valoroso (it) m
• Japanese: 勇ましい (ja) (いさましい, isamashī), 勇敢な (ja) (ゆうかんな、 yūkan-na)

• Russian: храбрый (ru) (xrábryj) , бравый (ru) (brávyj) , доблестный (ru) (dóblestnyj) , смелый (ru) (smélyj) , отважный (ru) (v) 
• 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

• Russian: галантный (ru) (galántnyj) , почтенный (ru) (počténnyj) , любезный (ru) (ljubéznyj)  (courteous), обходительный (ru) (obxodítelʹnyj)  (courteous)
• 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. Polite and attentive to ladies; courteous to women; chivalrous.

Translations

polite and attentive to ladies

• 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.
   • 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

(dated) fashionable young man

• Russian: светский человек (svétskij čelovék)m, джентльмен (ru) (džénglʼmen) m , щёголь (ru) (ščjógolʼ) m 

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