Gallant /(găl"lant)/

Gal·lant

Gallant

a.
  1. Showy; splendid; magnificent; gay; well-dressed.
    The town is built in a very gallant place.
    Our royal, good and gallant ship.
  2. Noble in bearing or spirit; brave; high-spirited; courageous; heroic; magnanimous; as, a gallant youth; a gallant officer.
    That gallant spirit hath aspired the clouds.
    The gay, the wise, the gallant, and the grave.
Syn. -- Gallant, Courageous, Brave.

Courageous is generic, denoting an inward spirit which rises above fear; brave is more outward, marking a spirit which braves or defies danger; gallant rises still higher, denoting bravery on extraordinary occasions in a spirit of adventure. A courageous man is ready for battle; a brave man courts it; a gallant man dashes into the midst of the conflict.

Gallant

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

Gallant

n.
  1. A man of mettle or spirit; a gay, fashionable man; a young blood.
  2. One fond of paying attention to ladies.
  3. One who wooes; a lover; a suitor; in a bad sense, a seducer.

Gallant

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Gallanted; p. pr. & vb. n. Gallanting

  1. To attend or wait on, as a lady; as, to gallant ladies to the play.
  2. To handle with grace or in a modish manner; as, to gallant a fan. [Obs.]