gantlet
noun
1.
to offer or accept a challenge
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