An archaic exclamation meaning 'begone' or 'away'; to tell someone to leave or go away rudely and forcefully.
From Old French 'avant' (forward, away), which comes from Latin 'abante' (from before). The word was common in Early Modern English drama and literature as a forceful command to depart.
Shakespeare loved the word 'avaunt'—it sounds so dramatically rude and theatrical that it appears repeatedly in his plays, and it perfectly captures how Elizabethan insults were designed to sound flowery and aggressive at the same time!
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