gaunt

Etymology

From Middle English gawnt, gawnte (“lean, slender”), from Old French jaunet, probably from a Scandinavian/North Germanic source, related to Old Norse gandr (“magic staff, stick”), from Proto-Germanic *gandaz (“stick, staff”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen- (“to beat, hit, drive”). Cognates: Cognate with Icelandic gandur (“magic staff”), Norwegian gand (“tall pointed stick; tall, thin man”), Danish gand, gan, Norwegian gana (“cut-off tree limbs”), Bavarian Gunten (“a kind of wedge or peg”). Related also to Old English gūþ (“battle”), Latin dēfendō (“ward off, defend”). Compare also dialectal Swedish gank (“a lean, emaciated horse”).

adj

1. Lean, angular, and bony.
   Hanging from the beam, Slowly swaying (such the law), Gaunt the shadow on your green, Shenandoah! 1866, Herman Melville, Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War, The Portent
   A gaunt Wolf was almost dead with hunger when he happened to meet a House-dog who was passing by. 1894, Joseph Jacobs, chapter 1, in The Fables of Aesop, archived from the original on 2011-02-28
2. Haggard, drawn, and emaciated.
   Far away I saw a gaunt cat slink crouchingly along a wall, but traces of men there were none. 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 239
   In the dim light of a foggy November day the sick room was a gloomy spot, but it was that gaunt, wasted face staring at me from the bed which sent a chill to my heart. 1917, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 5, in His Last Bow, archived from the original on 2012-04-06
3. Bleak, barren, and desolate.
   The present stage of progress in Christian Science presents two opposite aspects, — a full-orbed promise, and a gaunt want. 1896, Mary Baker Eddy, “The Way”, in Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896, page 355
   Behind me, rose up, to an extraordinary height, gaunt, black cliffs. 1908, William Hope Hodgson, chapter 14, in The House on the Borderland, archived from the original on 2012-04-14