— gauntly , adv. — gauntness , n.
/gawnt/ , adj., gaunter, gauntest .
1. extremely thin and bony; haggard and drawn, as from great hunger, weariness, or torture; emaciated.
2. bleak, desolate, or grim, as places or things: a gaunt, windswept landscape.
[ 1400-50; late ME, prob. gaunet, jaunet yellowish, deriv. of gaune, jaune yellow galbinus greenish-yellow ]
Syn. 1. lean, spare, scrawny, lank, angular, rawboned. See thin .
Ant. 1. stout.