gaunt Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold
    pinched; bony; emaciated; cadaverous; skeletal; wasted; haggard.
    • emaciated bony hands
    • a nightmare population of gaunt men and skeletal boys
    • eyes were haggard and cavernous
    • small pinched faces
    • kept life in his wasted frame only by grim concentration

WordNet

Gaunt adjective
Etymology
Cf. Norw. gand a thin pointed stick, a tall and thin man, and W. gwan weak.
Definitions
  1. Attenuated, as with fasting or suffering; lean; meager; pinched and grim. "The gaunt mastiff." Pope.
    A mysterious but visible pestilence, striding gaunt and fleshless across our land. Nichols.

Webster 1913