pant

Etymology 1

From Middle English panten, whence also English dialectal pank. Possibly from Old French pantoyer, a byform or of Old French pantoisier (“to be breathless”) (compare modern French panteler (“to gasp for breath”)), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Vulgar Latin *pantasiō (“struggling for breath when having a nightmare”), from Ancient Greek φαντασιόω (phantasióō, “I am subject to hallucinations”), from φαντασία (phantasía, “appearance, image, fantasy”).

noun

1. A quick breathing; a catching of the breath; a gasp: the panting of animals such as a dog with their tong hung out- as a form of thermoregulation.
2. (figurative) Eager longing.
   Indeed, the projections, cravings, and everyday frolics common to trysts among buzz-activist Hollywood stars and starlets, plus their many common folk imitators, go forward with eager pant. 1995, John C. Leggett, Suzanne Malm, The Eighteen Stages of Love, page 9
3. (obsolete) A violent palpitation of the heart.

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To breathe quickly or in a labored manner, as after exertion or from eagerness or excitement; to respire with heaving of the breast; to gasp.
   Pluto pants for breath from out his cell.
   There is a cavern where my spirit / Was panted forth in anguish. 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound
2. (intransitive) To long eagerly; to desire earnestly.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To long for (something); to be eager for (something).
   Then shall our hearts pant thee. 1633, George Herbert, Love
4. (intransitive) Of the heart, to beat with unnatural violence or rapidity; to palpitate.
5. (intransitive) To sigh; to flutter; to languish.
6. (intransitive) To heave, as the breast.
7. (intransitive) To bulge and shrink successively, of iron hulls, etc.

Etymology 2

From pants.

noun

1. (fashion) A pair of pants (trousers or underpants).
2. (used attributively as a modifier) Of or relating to pants.
   pant leg

Etymology 3

Unknown

noun

1. (Scotland and northeast England) Any public drinking fountain.