Lean and haggard in appearance, especially from hunger, age, or suffering. Bleak and forbidding in character or appearance.
Origin uncertain, possibly from Old Norse gand meaning 'thin stake' or related to Middle English gant meaning 'yawn.' The sense of thinness and emptiness has remained constant.
The word 'gaunt' carries emotional weight beyond mere thinness - it suggests suffering and endurance, often nobility in the face of hardship. Gothic literature exploited this connection, using gaunt characters and landscapes to evoke both physical and spiritual desolation.
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