Run the Gauntlet

A real, brutal military punishment, not a metaphor to begin with. Soldiers found guilty of an offence were forced to run between two facing rows of their fellow troops, who struck them with sticks or knotted ropes as they passed. The word itself comes from the Swedish "gatlopp" (from "gata," lane, and "lopp," a running course), borrowed into English in the 17th century, likely through English soldiers fighting alongside Swedish forces during the Thirty Years' War. The English spelling gradually shifted from the original "gantlope" or "gantelope" toward "gauntlet," confused with the unrelated word for an armoured glove, even though the two words share no real connection.