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Hollow vs Gaunt - What's the difference?

hollow | gaunt |

As adjectives the difference between hollow and gaunt

is that hollow is (of something solid) having an empty space or cavity inside while gaunt is lean, angular and bony.

As an adverb hollow

is (colloquial) completely, as part of the phrase beat hollow or beat all hollow.

As a noun hollow

is a small valley between mountains; a low spot surrounded by elevations.

As a verb hollow

is to make a hole in something; to excavate (transitive) or hollow can be to urge or call by shouting; to hollo.

As an interjection hollow

is .

hollow

English

Alternative forms

* holler

Etymology 1

(etyl) holw, holh, from (etyl) . More at cave.

Adjective

(er)
  • (of something solid) Having an empty space or cavity inside.
    • a hollow''' tree; a '''hollow sphere
  • (of a sound) Distant]], eerie; echoing, [[reverberate, reverberating, as if in a hollow space; dull, muffled; often low-pitched.
    • a hollow moan
    (Dryden)
  • (figuratively) Without substance; having no real or significant worth; meaningless.
    • a hollow victory
  • (figuratively) Insincere, devoid of validity; specious.
    • a hollow promise
  • Depressed; concave; gaunt; sunken.
  • * Shakespeare
    • With hollow eye and wrinkled brow.
    Derived terms
    * hollow leg

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (colloquial) Completely, as part of the phrase beat hollow or beat all hollow.

    • Etymology 2

    (etyl) holow, earlier holgh, from (etyl) . See above.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A small valley between mountains; a low spot surrounded by elevations.
  • * Prior
    • Forests grew upon the barren hollows .
  • * Tennyson
    • I hate the dreadful hollow behind the little wood.
    He built himself a cabin in a hollow high up in the Rockies.
  • A sunken area or unfilled space in something solid; a cavity, natural or artificial.
    • the hollow of the hand or of a tree
  • (US) A sunken area.
  • (figuratively) A feeling of emptiness.
    • a hollow in the pit of one's stomach

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to make a hole in something; to excavate (transitive)

    • Etymology 3

    Compare holler.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To urge or call by shouting; to hollo.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
    • He has hollowed the hounds.

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
    • (Webster 1913)

    gaunt

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l) * (l) (Scotland)

    Adjective

    (er)
  • lean, angular and bony
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1894 , author=Joseph Jacobs , title=The Fables of Aesop , chapter=1 citation , passage=A gaunt Wolf was almost dead with hunger when he happened to meet a House-dog who was passing by.}}
  • haggard, drawn and emaciated
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1917 , author=Arthur Conan Doyle , title=His Last Bow , chapter=5 citation , passage=In the dim light of a foggy November day the sick room was a gloomy spot, but it was that gaunt , wasted face staring at me from the bed which sent a chill to my heart.}}
  • bleak, barren and desolate
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1908 , author=William Hope Hodgson , title=The House on the Borderland , chapter=14 citation , passage=Behind me, rose up, to an extraordinary height, gaunt , black cliffs. }}

    Synonyms

    * scraggy, scrawny, skinny