gantlet

noun

1. to offer or accept a challenge"threw down the gauntlet"
2. a glove of armored leather; protects the hand
3. a glove with long sleeve
4. the convergence of two parallel railroad tracks in a narrow place; the inner rails cross and run parallel and then diverge so a train remains on its own tracks at all times
5. a form of punishment in which a person is forced to run between two lines of men facing each other and armed with clubs or whips to beat the victim