What is gallant?

Famous quotes containing the word gallant:

    “I remember the scenes of battle in which we stood together. I remember especially that broad and deep grave at the foot of the Resaca hill where we left those gallant comrades who fell in that desperate charge. I remember, through it all, the gallantry, devotion and steadfastness, the high-set patriotism you always exhibited.”
    —Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)

    “Gaily bedight,
    A gallant knight,
    In sunshine and in shadow,
    Had journeyed long,
    Singing a song,
    In search of Eldorado.”
    —Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)

    “My Phillis hath prime-feathered flowers
    That smile when she treads on them;
    And Phillis hath a gallant flock
    That leaps since she doth own them.
    But Phillis hath so hard a heart—”
    —Thomas Lodge (1558?–1625)