Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To move about restlessly or with little purpose, especially in search of pleasure or amusement. synonym: wander.
- noun A pointed tool, such as a spike or chisel, used for breaking rock or ore.
- noun A goad, as for prodding cattle.
- transitive verb To break up (ore, for example) with a gad.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To fasten with a gad-nail.
- In mining, to break up or loosen with the gad; use the gad upon.
- To flit about restlessly; move about uneasily or with excitement.
- To ramble about idly, from trivial curiosity or for gossip.
- Hence To ramble or rove; wander, as in thought or speech; straggle, as in growth.
- noun The act of gadding or rambling about: used in the phrase on or upon the gad.
- noun A measuring-rod for land; a measure of length varying, in different districts, from nine or ten to as many as twenty feet.
- noun A division of an uninclosed pasture, said to have been usually 6½ feet wide in Lincolnshire.
- noun A cord or rope made from the fibers of the osier.
- noun The name of God, minced as an oath. Compare
egad . - noun A point or pointed instrument, as a pointed bar of steel, a spear, or an arrowhead.
- noun A sharp point affixed to a part of the armor, as the gauntlet, which could thus be used to deal a formidable blow.
- noun A thick pointed nail; a gad-nail; specifically, in mining, a pointed tool used for loosening and breaking up rock or coal which has been shaken or thrown down by a blast, or which is loose and jointy enough to be got without the use of powder.
- noun A wedge or ingot of steel or iron.
- noun A stick, or rod of wood, sharpened to a point, or provided with a metal point, used to drive cattle with; a goad; hence, a slender stick or rod of any kind, especially one used for whipping.
- noun A gadfly.
- noun In old Scotch prisons, a round bar of iron crossing the condemned cell horizontally at the height of about six inches from the floor, and strongly built into the wall at both ends.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To walk about; to rove or go about, without purpose; hence, to run wild; to be uncontrolled.
- noun The point of a spear, or an arrowhead.
- noun A pointed or wedge-shaped instrument of metal, as a steel wedge used in mining, etc.
- noun A sharp-pointed rod; a goad.
- noun A spike on a gauntlet; a gadling.
- noun obsolete A wedge-shaped billet of iron or steel.
- noun Prov. Eng. Local, U.S. A rod or stick, as a fishing rod, a measuring rod, or a rod used to drive cattle with.
- noun [Obs.] upon the spur of the moment; hastily.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- interjection An exclamatory interjection roughly equivalent to 'by God', 'goodness gracious', 'for goodness' sake'.
- verb intransitive To move from one location to another in an apparently random and
frivolous manner. - noun A sharp-pointed object; a
goad . - noun obsolete A metal
bar . - noun A pointed metal tool for breaking or chiselling rock, especially in mining.
- noun dated, metallurgy An indeterminate measure of metal produced by a furnace, perhaps equivalent to the bloom, perhaps weighing around 100 pounds.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb wander aimlessly in search of pleasure
- noun an anxiety disorder characterized by chronic free-floating anxiety and such symptoms as tension or sweating or trembling or lightheadedness or irritability etc that has lasted for more than six months
- noun a sharp prod fixed to a rider's heel and used to urge a horse onward
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word gad.
Examples
-
_gad_ [Footnote: A gad is a tool used in mines; it resembles a smith's punch.] were put into my hands; and I thought myself a great man.
Tales and Novels — Volume 02 Maria Edgeworth 1808
-
There are several species known under various names, such as gad-fly, breeze-fly, etc.
Insects and Diseases A Popular Account of the Way in Which Insects may Spread or Cause some of our Common Diseases Rennie Wilbur Doane
-
The tendency to graze cattle, which is not hard work, and to "gad" about to cattle fairs, which are esteemed the greatest diversion the country affords, is an indication of the distinct superiority of the quick-witted Celt to the dull Saxon hind.
Disturbed Ireland Being the Letters Written During the Winter of 1880-81. Bernard H. Becker
-
His father saw him coming, met him with a "gad" and lashed him furiously.
Two Little Savages Being the adventures of two boys who lived as Indians and what they learned Ernest Thompson Seton 1903
-
The latter paid absolutely no attention to him when he said "Get-ap," or when he applied the "gad"; she neither obeyed the command nor resented the chastisement.
Anderson Crow, Detective George Barr McCutcheon 1897
-
Bill Rubley was putting the "gad" to the horses when a man on horseback rode up from the opposite end of the bridge.
The Daughter of Anderson Crow George Barr McCutcheon 1897
-
"Good morning," said this lordly gentleman, bringing his horse to a standstill and raising his "gad" to the brim of his hat in a graceful salute.
Viola Gwyn George Barr McCutcheon 1897
-
This converts a vulgar, prosy "gad" into a delicate instrument, to be wielded with pride and skill, and never literally to be applied to the backs of the animals, but to be launched to right and left into the air with a professional flourish, and a sharp, ringing report.
Winter Sunshine John Burroughs 1879
-
The slow, patient, hulky oxen, how they would kink their tails, hump their backs, and throw their weight into the bows when they felt a heavy rock behind them and Father lifted up his voice and laid on the "gad"!
My Boyhood John Burroughs 1879
-
He never spoke angrily or shouted, and his first act on entering the schoolroom was to break up the long tough hickory "gad" lying on his desk and to fling it out of the window.
The Jungle Fugitives A Tale of Life and Adventure in India Including also Many Stories of American Adventure, Enterprise and Daring Edward Sylvester Ellis 1878
lampbane commented on the word gad
Northeast Alabama Regional Airport.
October 29, 2008
bilby commented on the word gad
"The ankles of a prisoner sentenced to death were secured within shackles which were connected, by a chain about four feet long, with a large iron ring which traveled on the gad. Watch-dogs are now sometimes fastened in a similar way."
October 21, 2011