gad

Interjection

1. An exclamation roughly equivalent to by God, goodness gracious, for goodness' sake.
   • The clasp slips free (gad, what lush kazooms) and she even helps him pull off the blouse that is now cuffing her at the elbows.1987, Mark Christensen, “Bang Your Head”, in Mortal Belladaywic, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, →ISBN, page 132

Verb

gad (third-person singular simple present gads, present participle gadding, simple past and past participle gadded)

1. (intransitive) To move from one location to another in an apparently random and frivolous manner.
   • This, I suppose, is the virgin who abideth still in the house with you. She is not given, I hope, to gadding overmuch, nor to vain and foolish decorations of her person with ear-rings and finger-rings, and crisping-pins: for such are unprofitable, yea, abominable.1852, Alice Cary, Clovernook ....
   • So when he saw King Arthur he said: "Thou knave! Wherefore didst thou quit thy work to go a-gadding?"1903, Howard Pyle, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, Part III, Chapter Fourth, page 123

   Synonyms:

   gallivant

2. To run with the tail in the air, bent over the back, usually in an attempt to escape the warble fly.

Noun (1)

gad (plural gads)

1. One who roams about idly; a gadabout.

Noun (2)

gad (plural gads)

1. (Northern England, Scotland, derogatory) A greedy and/or stupid person.
   • Get over here, ye good-for-nothing gadǃ
   • Ye greedy ged, ye have taken the very breath out o' me.1913, George Gordon, The Auld Clay Biggin

Noun (3)

gad (plural gads)

1. (UK, US, dialectal, especially) A goad, a sharp-pointed rod for driving cattle, horses, etc, or one with a whip or thong on the end for the same purpose.
   • Ist yoakes and bowes and gad and yoaksticks there?1684, Meriton, Praise Ale, l. 100, in 1851, James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, The Yorkshire Anthology: A Collection of Ancient and Modern Ballads, Poems and Songs, Relating to the County of...
   • Does your cow kick? Do not fly into a passion and pound her with a handspike, or trim her with a gad or a cow-hide.c. 1844, Prairie Farmer
2. (UK, US, dialectal) A rod or stick, such as a fishing rod or a measuring rod.
   • And we'll prepare our limber gads,
     Lang lines, and braw brass wheels;1836, A Collection of Right Merrie Garlands for North Country Anglers, page 4
   • Seek out thy tackle, thy creel and thy gad.1876, Armstrong, Wanny Blossoms, page 33
3. (especially) A pointed metal tool for breaking or chiselling rock; a pick.
   • I will go get a leaf of brass, / And with a gad of steel will write these words.c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
   • Frank was able to keep his eyes open long enough to check his bed with a miner's gad and douse the electric lamp2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 327
4. (obsolete) A metal bar.
   • they sette uppon hym and drew oute their swerdys to have slayne hym – but there wolde no swerde byghte on hym more than uppon a gadde of steele, for the Hyghe Lorde which he served, He hym preserved.1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XV
   • Flemish steel […] some in bars and some in gads.1677–1683, Joseph Moxon, “(please specify the page)”, in Mechanick Exercises, or The Doctrine of Handy-Works, […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] Joseph Moxon, published...
5. (dated) An indeterminate measure of metal produced by a furnace, sometimes equivalent to a bloom weighing around 100 pounds.
   • Twice a day a 'gad' of iron, i.e., a bloom weighing 1 cwt. was produced, which took from six to seven hours.1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 146
6. A spike on a gauntlet; a gadling.
   • Sometimes we see the knuckles ornamented with gads or gadlings.1840, Charles Henry Hartshorne, An Endeavor to Classify the Sepulchral Remains in Northamptonshire, Or, a Discourse on Funeral Monuments in that County: Delivered Before the Members of the Religious...
   • His gauntlets have embroidered cuffs; there are gads or gadlings on the fingers.1842, Ecclesiological Society, Illustrations of Monumental Brasses ..., page 70

   Synonyms:

   gadling, spike

Proper noun capitalized: Gad

Gad

1. The seventh son of Jacob, by his wife's handmaid Zilpah.
2. One of the Israelite tribes mentioned in the Torah, descended from Gad.
3. A male given name from Hebrew.
   • “We’ve got civilizational suicidal empathy going on,” Musk said, borrowing the term from Gad Saad, a Canadian scholar who is also a frequent Rogan host.2025 March 5, Zachary B. Wolf, “Elon Musk wants to save Western civilization from empathy”, in CNN, archived from the original on 26 Mar 2025
4. A surname.

Noun (4) capitalized: GAD

GAD (uncountable)

1. (abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of generalized anxiety disorder.