Other forms: jaunts
A jaunt is a short trip taken for pleasure. A little jaunt, a day's jaunt, off on a jaunt.
The word is light-hearted by nature, and it often carries a hint that somebody else is paying, which is why journalists use it of official travel. It works as a verb too, though the noun is far commoner.
1nounjauntA short trip taken for pleasure.
“We went on a quick jaunt to the coast for fish and chips.”
jaunt is a trip.
Of unknown origin, first recorded in the sixteenth century with the sense of tiring a horse by riding it about.
Built from
Origin unknown. Perhaps a palatalised alteration of daunt (“to discourage”). Compare Scots jaunder (“to ramble, jaunt to taunt, jeer”), dialectal Swedish ganta (“to play the buffoon, romp, jest”); perhaps akin to English jump. Compare jaunce. Modern usage likely influenced by jaunty.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA