Meanings
present singular third person takes up the gauntlet · participle present taking up the gauntlet · past took up the gauntlet · participle past taken up the gauntlet · alternative take up the gantlet
- idiomaticTo accept a challenge.
He doesn't read Greek, but he took up the gauntlet and did his best to understand the letter, anyway.
1 more example
It was they, the ones without rights or positions, who had taken up the Emperor Wilhelm's gauntlet.
1989, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated by H. T. Willetts, August 1914, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 99
Origin
See throw down the gauntlet. (Cf. French relever le gant)
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian приемам предизвикателство
- приемам предизвикателство (priemam predizvikatelstvo)accept a challenge
Catalan prendre el guant
- prendre el guantaccept a challenge
Finnish ottaa haaste vastaan
- ottaa haaste vastaanaccept a challenge
French relever le gant
- relever le gantaccept a challenge
Hebrew הֵרִים אֶת הַכְּפָפָה
- הֵרִים אֶת הַכְּפָפָה (herím et hakfafá)accept a challenge
Indonesian mengambil tantangan
- mengambil tantanganaccept a challenge
Italian raccogliere il guanto
- raccogliere il guantoaccept a challenge
Russian подня́ть перчатку, приня́ть вы́зов
- подня́ть перчатку (podnjátʹ perčatku)accept a challenge
- приня́ть вы́зов (prinjátʹ výzov)accept a challenge
Scottish Gaelic rach cùrsa nan slat
- rach cùrsa nan slataccept a challenge
Spanish recoger el guante
- recoger el guanteaccept a challenge
Cite this entry
take up the gauntlet. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/take%20up%20the%20gauntlet
“take up the gauntlet.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/take%20up%20the%20gauntlet. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “take up the gauntlet,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/take%20up%20the%20gauntlet.
Source: take up the gauntlet on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.