gallant vs lofty what difference

what is difference between gallant and lofty

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 *welh₁- (“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 gāl (“wanton; wicked; bad”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡælənt/
• Rhymes: -ælənt

Adjective

gallant (comparative more gallant, superlative most gallant)

1. Brave, valiant.
2. honorable.
3. grand, noble.
4. (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): /ɡəˈlænt/, /ˈɡælənt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɡəˈlɑnt/, /ˈɡælənt/
• Rhymes: -ænt

Adjective

gallant (comparative more gallant, superlative most gallant)

1. Polite and attentive to ladies; courteous to women; chivalrous.

Translations

Noun

gallant (plural gallants)

1. (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 […]

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, […]

3. (nautical) topgallant

Translations

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).

   • During this period, we were the lions of the neighbourhood; and, no doubt, strangers from the distant villages were taken to see the “Karhowrees” (white men), in the same way that countrymen, in a city, are gallanted to the Zoological Gardens.

2. (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): /ˈɡaɬant/

Verb

gallant

1. (literary) third-person plural present/future of gallu

Mutation

English

Etymology

From Middle English lofty, lofti, lofte (“of high rank; noble; ornate”), equivalent to loft +‎ -y; see loft (“sky, firmament; upper room”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: lŏftʹi, IPA^(key): /ˈlɒfti/
• (General American) enPR: lôftʹi, IPA^(key): /ˈlɔːfti/
• (cot–caught merger, Canada) enPR: lŏftʹi, IPA^(key): /ˈlɑfti/
• Rhymes: -ɒfti, -ɔːfti

Adjective

lofty (comparative loftier, superlative loftiest)

1. high, tall, having great height or stature
   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 551:

     When the night was half spent, I rose and walked on, till the day broke in all its beauty and the sun rose over the heads of the lofty hills and athwart the low gravelly plains.

2. idealistic, implying over-optimism

   a lofty goal

   • 2013, Delme Parfitt in Wales Online, Cardiff City 1 – 0 Swansea City: Steven Caulker heads Bluebirds to South Wales derby win (3 November 2013)

     A goal from Steven Caulker, just after the hour mark, was enough to hand victory to Malky Mackay’s men, with Swansea falling some way short of the lofty standards they have set previously at this level.

3. extremely proud; arrogant; haughty
   • F. Harrison

     that lofty pity with which prosperous folk are apt to remember their grandfathers

Synonyms

• (having great height or stature): noble, honorable

Antonyms

• (having great height or stature): mean, ignoble
• (idealistic): familiar, vulgar

Derived terms

• Mount Lofty

Related terms

• loft
• aloft

Translations

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