gad

[prettygoodword]

gad (GAD) - n., a pointed mining tool for breaking up rock or ore; (obs.) a goad for driving cattle, horses, and so on.


Not the interjection (which is a euphemized God) or the verb (which originally meant to rush about), but the noun. The goad sense is older, but tool is the sense that has (however uncommon) survived. It's not directly from goad, however -- they're both from the same Proto-Germanic root meaning a spike/rod/stick, but gad arrived via Old Norse gaddr while goad via Old English gād.

---L.

Comments

[full_metal_ox]

So a gadfly (in either the entomological or metaphorical sense) is a pesky creature that prods, stings, and goads you?

[prettygoodword]

Yup!