Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

gladiator

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Remove ads
See also: Gladiator and gladiátor

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin gladiātor, from gladius (“sword”). See also English gladius.

Pronunciation

Noun

gladiator (plural gladiators)

  1. (Ancient Rome) A person (professional or slave) who entertained the public by engaging in mortal combat with another, or with a wild animal.
    • 2002, Dirk Wittenborn, Fierce People:
      My mother prepared herself for the evening with the same somber deliberateness of the gladiators in Spartacus.
    • 2017, Howard Jacobson, “The Wages of Indulgence is Darts”, in The Dog’s Last Walk (and Other Pieces), London; New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:
      And it's because something of the mundanely manual still adheres to darts that the players' heroic walk of honour from the green room to the oche is so incongruous. The fanfare begins, the strobes go wild, the crowds roar, hostesses wearing the sort of tinsel dresses that drove me crazy when I was eighteen escort the gladiator into the arena, only he's not a gladiator, he's a plumber.
  2. (by extension) A disputant in a public controversy or debate.
  3. A professional boxer.
  4. Synonym of heelwalker (“Any of the order Mantophasmatodea of carnivorous, wingless insects that superficially resemble a cross between praying mantises and phasmids.”).

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

gladiator (third-person singular simple present gladiators, present participle gladiatoring, simple past and past participle gladiatored)

  1. To fight as entertainment for others.
    • 1915, The Atlantic Monthly - Volume 116, page 642:
      When the dance was done there was the cock-fight, or rather a century of cock-fights, to be reckoned with. For two hundred of these luckless creatures 'gladiatored' bravely, while an appreciative audience held matting up to its chin to keep from being bespattered with blood.
    • 2013 December 4, “What it's like to spend 20 years on death row”, in The Telegraph:
      The guards made me fight other prisoners for their own amusement. It was called gladiatoring.
  2. To compete in a public contest.
    • 1994, Saxophone Journal - Volume 19, page 32:
      I played very well as was evidenced in that I was the only participant in the entire six or seven days of wind gladiatoring who received a standing ovation from the orchestra, no less.
    • 2019, Ruth Park, A Fence Around the Cuckoo: Text Classics, page 256:
      It's himself gladiatoring on the harmonium.
  3. To debate or argue.
    • 1895, Athol Mayhew, A Jorum of "Punch" with Those who Helped to Brew it:
      He did his gladiatoring doubtless without malice, and from a purely sporting instinct — even as Mr. Punch gave the provocation.
    • 1988, Bernard S. Jackson, Law, fact and narrative coherence, page 71:
      Quoting the accounts in both Time and Newsweek, they note that though the "defense attorney may have outwitted, outsparred, and even "out gladiatored" (another popular image in the trial coverage) his opponent, but he still lost the case.
    • 2005, John K. Hale, Milton's Cambridge Latin: Performing in the Genres, 1625-1632:
      It was all part of the gladiatoring: the true performer would argue each case to the utmost, like a debater or mooter in our own world.
    • 2010, John O'Mahony, R. L. Praeger, The Sunny Side of Ireland, page 71:
      Och! lave off your gladiatoring; sure it's took up I'd be if I did that!
  4. To act aggressively toward others.
    • 1863, The Boy's Yearly Book, page 212:
      Why, thin, Mister Levi Slam, don't you think now that a volley poured into them haythen mosquitos beyant would put a stop to their gladiatoring a little?
    • 1946, George A. Birmingham, The Piccadilly Lady, page 70:
      It's the Count von Eisenstein," says he, "that's come over to Eire for protection against the murdering English who are marauding and gladiatoring about Germany and would kill him if they could, but thanks be to God," says my bold McQuirk, "he'll be safe enough here and it'll be a good thing to have a friend of the Irish people living in Kilfenora Castle, though maybe you won't like it."
    • 1981, Ruth Park, The Frost And The Fire, page 162:
      Have I been gladiatoring about the place, boys? Did I squeeze the wizendy little fella a bit rough like?
Remove ads

Danish

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Noun

gladiator c (singular definite gladiatoren, plural indefinite gladiatorer)

  1. gladiator

Declension

More information common gender, singular ...

Further reading

Remove ads

Dutch

Etymology

From Latin gladiātor, from gladius (“sword”).

Pronunciation

  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: gla‧di‧a‧tor

Noun

gladiator m (plural gladiatoren or gladiators, diminutive gladiatortje n)

  1. gladiator; entertainer who engages in mortal combat

Latin

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Nynorsk

Polish

Romanian

Swedish

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads
Remove ads