What is "gait"

Gait \Gait\, n. [See Gate a way.]

1. A going; a walk; a march; a way.

   Good gentleman, go your gait, and let poor folks pass.
   --Shak.

2. Manner of walking or stepping; bearing or carriage while moving.

   'T is Cinna; I do know him by his gait.
   --Shak.

c.1300, gate "a going or walking, departure, journey," earlier "way, road, path" (c.1200), from a Scandinavian source (compare Old Norse gata "way, road, path"), from Proto-Germanic *gatwon- "a going" (cognates: Old High German gazza "street," German Gasse, Gothic gatwo), perhaps from PIE *ghe- "to release, let go." Meaning "manner of walking, carriage of the body while walking" is from mid-15c. Modern spelling developed before 1750, originally in Scottish. Related: Gaited.

n. 1 Manner of walking or stepping; bearing or carriage while moving. 2 (context horses English) One of the different ways in which a horse can move, either naturally or as a result of training. vb. To teach a specific '''gait''' to a horse.

1. n. the rate of moving (especially walking or running) [syn: pace]

2. a horse's manner of moving

3. a person's manner of walking

Gait is the pattern of movement of the limbs of animals, including humans, during locomotion over a solid substrate. Most animals use a variety of gaits, selecting gait based on speed, terrain, the need to maneuver, and energetic efficiency. Different animal species may use different gaits due to differences in anatomy that prevent use of certain gaits, or simply due to evolved innate preferences as a result of habitat differences. While various gaits are given specific names, the complexity of biological systems and interacting with the environment make these distinctions 'fuzzy' at best. Gaits are typically classified according to footfall patterns, but recent studies often prefer definitions based on mechanics. The term typically does not refer to limb-based propulsion through fluid mediums such as water or air, but rather to propulsion across a solid substrate by generating reactive forces against it (which can apply to walking while underwater as well as on land).

Due to the rapidity of animal movement, simple direct observation is rarely sufficient to give any insight into the pattern of limb movement. In spite of early attempts to classify gaits based on footprints or the sound of footfalls, it wasn't until Eadweard Muybridge and Étienne-Jules Marey began taking rapid series of photographs that proper scientific examination of gaits could begin.

Human gait refers to locomotion achieved through the movement of human limbs. Human gait is defined as bipedal, biphasic forward propulsion of center of gravity of the human body, in which there are alternate sinuous movements of different segments of the body with least expenditure of energy. Different gait patterns are characterized by differences in limb movement patterns, overall velocity, forces, kinetic and potential energy cycles, and changes in the contact with the surface ( ground, floor, etc.). Human gaits are the various ways in which a human can move, either naturally or as a result of specialized training.

Gait is the pattern of limb movement during locomotion.

Gait may also refer to:

GAIT (an acronym for the GSM-ANSI-136 Interoperability Team) is a wireless standard developed in 1999 that allows cross-operation of mobile telephone technologies. Phones compliant with the GAIT standard can operate on either contemporary GSM networks, or the legacy IS-136 TDMA and AMPS networks found extensively throughout North America.

Since GAIT phones are interoperable over several types of networks, users could operate their phones in a much larger area of North America compared to phones that used only the GSM standard. The modern equivalent of a GAIT phone would be a GSM phone that also supports the CDMA IS-95 modes used in North America. Such phones are sometimes called " world phones," although this phrase is also used to describe a GSM phone that supports all four frequency bands used throughout the world.