different between debonair vs gallant
debonair
English
Alternative forms
- debonaire, debonnaire
Etymology
Old French debonaire, from the phrase de bon aire "of good stock, noble".
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /d?b??ne?(?)/
- (US) enPR: d?b-?-n?r', IPA(key): /d?b??n??/
Adjective
debonair (comparative more debonair, superlative most debonair)
- (obsolete) Gracious, courteous.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vi:
- Let be that Ladie debonaire, / Thou recreant knight, and soone thy selfe prepaire / To battell [...].
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vi:
- Suave, urbane and sophisticated.
- (especially of men) Charming, confident, and carefully dressed.
Translations
Noun
debonair
- (obsolete) Debonaire behaviour; graciousness.
- 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, Letter 31:
- But yet, shall my vanity extend only to personals, such as the gracefulness of dress, my debonnaire, and my assurance—Self-taught, self-acquired, these!
- 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, Letter 31:
Anagrams
- diborane
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gallant
English
Alternative forms
- gallaunt (obsolete)
Etymology 1
From Middle English galant, galaunt, from Old French galant (“courteous; dashing; brave”), present participle of galer (“to rejoice; make merry”), from gale (“pomp; show; festivity; mirth”); either from Frankish *wala- (“good, well”), from Proto-Germanic *wal-, from Proto-Indo-European *welh?- (“to choose, wish”); or alternatively from Frankish *gail (“merry; mirthful; proud; luxuriant”), from Proto-Germanic *gailaz (“merry; excited; luxurious”), related to Dutch geil (“horny; lascivious; salacious; lecherous”), German geil (“randy; horny; lecherous; wicked”), Old English g?l (“wanton; wicked; bad”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /??æl?nt/
- Rhymes: -æl?nt
Adjective
gallant (comparative more gallant, superlative most gallant)
- brave, valiant.
- honorable.
- Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
- grand, noble.
- (obsolete) Showy; splendid; magnificent; gay; well-dressed.
- This town [is built in a very gallant place.
Related terms
- gallantly
- gallantry
Translations
Etymology 2
From French
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /???lænt/, /??æl?nt/
- (US) IPA(key): /???l?nt/, /??æl?nt/
- Rhymes: -ænt
Adjective
gallant (comparative more gallant, superlative most gallant)
- Polite and attentive to ladies; courteous to women; chivalrous.
Translations
Noun
gallant (plural gallants)
- (dated) A 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 […]
- 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 1 scene 2
- One who woos, a lover, a suitor, a seducer.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
- […] they were discovered in a very improper manner by the husband of the gypsy, who, from jealousy it seems, had kept a watchful eye over his wife, and had dogged her to the place, where he found her in the arms of her gallant.
- 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, […]
- 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
- (nautical) topgallant
Translations
Verb
gallant (third-person singular simple present gallants, present participle gallanting, simple past and past participle gallanted)
- (obsolete, transitive) To attend or wait on (a lady).
- (obsolete, transitive) To handle with grace or in a modish manner.
References
- gallant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
Welsh
Alternative forms
- gallan (colloquial)
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /??a?ant/
Verb
gallant
- (literary) third-person plural present/future of gallu
Mutation
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