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gantry

[gan-tree]
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noun, plural gan·tries.
  1. a framework spanning a railroad track or tracks for displaying signals.
  2. any of various spanning frameworks, as a bridgelike portion of certain cranes.
  3. Rocketry. a frame consisting of scaffolds on various levels used to erect vertically launched rockets and spacecraft.
  4. a framelike stand for supporting a barrel or cask.
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Also gauntry.

Origin of gantry

1325–75; Middle English gauntre < dialectal Old French gantier wooden stand, frame, variant of chantier < Medieval Latin cantārius < Latin canthērius < Greek kanthḗlios packass
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for gantry

Historical Examples

  • Gantry was astonished and he admitted it in exclamatory phrase.

    The Honorable Senator Sage-Brush

    Francis Lynde

  • "You hoped it was only a young woman's fad—which it probably is," Gantry cut in.

  • Gantry tells me that you are pretty well up in corporation law.

  • Gantry seems to think that the railroads—or his railroad, at least—are persecuted.

  • This time Gantry's smile was a grin of complete intelligence.

British Dictionary definitions for gantry

gantry

gauntry

noun plural -tries
  1. a bridgelike framework used to support a travelling crane, signals over a railway track, etc
  2. Also called: gantry scaffold the framework tower used to attend to a large rocket on its launching pad
  3. a supporting framework for a barrel or cask
    1. the area behind a bar where bottles, esp spirit bottles mounted in optics, are kept for use or display
    2. the range or quality of the spirits on viewthis pub's got a good gantry
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Word Origin

C16 (in the sense: wooden platform for barrels): from Old French chantier, from Medieval Latin cantārius, changed from Latin canthērius supporting frame, pack ass; related to Greek kanthēlios pack ass
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for gantry

n.

1570s, originally "four-footed stand for a barrel," probably from Old North French gantier (Old French chantier, 13c., "store-room, stock-room"), from Latin cantherius "rafter, frame," also "a gelding," from Greek kanthelios "pack ass," related to kanthelion "rafter," of unknown origin. The connecting notion in all this seems to be framework for carrying things. Meaning "frame for a crane, etc." is from 1810. Railway signal sense attested by 1889.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper