/ˈd͡ʒɔːnt/, /d͡ʒɔːnt/, /d͡ʒɔnt/
OriginOrigin uncertain. Perhaps a palatalised alteration of daunt (“to discourage”). Compare Scots jaunder (“to ramble, jaunt to taunt, jeer”), dialectal Swedish ganta (“to play the buffoon, romp, jest”); perhaps akin to English jump. Compare jaunce. Modern usage likely influenced by jaunty.
- archaicA wearisome journey.
“Our Savior, meek, and with untroubled mind After his aëry jaunt, though hurried sore. Hungry and cold, betook him to his rest.”
“Fie, what a jaunt have I had.”
- A short excursion for pleasure or refreshment; a ramble; a short journey.
“Some days later it happened that young Heriotside was stepping home over the Lang Muir about ten at night, it being his first jaunt from home since his arm had mended.”
- intransitiveTo ramble here and there; to stroll; to make an excursion.
- intransitiveTo ride on a jaunting car.
- obsolete, transitiveTo jolt; to jounce.
“To get into a Grecian car, and to be drawn, with Minerva at his back[…]four or five miles through the streets of London‥after having quietly suffered himself to be jaunted about in this manner”
- obsoleteTo tire a horse by riding it hard or back and forth.
Formsjaunts(plural) · jaunts(present, singular, third-person) · jaunting(participle, present) · jaunted(participle, past) · jaunted(past)