gaunt «gnt, gahnt», adjective verb.
–adj.
1. very thin and bony; with hollow eyes and a starved look: »
Hunger and suffering had made the lost hikers gaunt.
SYNONYM(S): lean, spare, lank. See syn. under thin. (Cf. ↑thin)2. such as to cause leanness or emaciation: »
gaunt poverty.
3. looking bare and gloomy; desolate; forbidding; grim: »
the gaunt slopes of a high mountain in winter.
–v.t.
to make lean or haggard: »
... a woman with an eroded face, a body gaunted by diet (John D. MacDonald).
╂[perhaps < Scandinavian (compare Norwegian gand thin pole or person), with influence of Old French gant, gent elegant]
–gaunt´ly, adverb.
–gaunt´ness, noun.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.