Goad
name, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A long, pointed stick used to prod animals.
"the daily goad urging him to the daily toil"
- 2 a pointed instrument that is used to prod into a state of motion wordnet
- 3 That which goads or incites; a stimulus. figuratively
"I might have been an unfortunate little bull in a Spanish arena, I got so smartingly touched up by these moral goads."
- 4 a verbalization that encourages you to attempt something wordnet
- 1 To prod with a goad.
- 2 annoy or provoke, as by constant criticism wordnet
- 3 To encourage or stimulate.
- 4 stab or urge on as if with a pointed stick wordnet
- 5 To incite or provoke.
"goading a boy to fight"
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 urge with or as if with a goad wordnet
- 7 give heart or courage to wordnet
- 1 A surname.
Example
More examples"She tended cattle and she sang so sweetly that the herds were delighted with her song, and she needed neither the crook nor the goad to manage them; they obeyed her voice, and gazed at and listened to the maid as she sat under the shade of a pine tree, crowned with a garland of its leaves and singing the loves of Pan and Pitys the Nymph."
Etymology
From Middle English gode, from Old English gād (“goad”), from Proto-Germanic *gaidō (compare Old Norse gedda (“pike (fish)”), Lombardic gaida (“spear”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰey- (compare Old Irish gath (“spear”), Sanskrit हिन्वति (hinvati), हिनोति (hinoti, “to urge on, throw”), हेति (heti, “missile, projectile”)). Doublet of gad and yard; see also xyston.
Related phrases
More for "goad"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.