god

Noun (1)

god (plural gods)

1. A deity or supreme being; a supernatural, typically immortal, being with superior powers, to which personhood is attributed.
   • The most frequently used name for the Islamic god is Allah.
   • When ancient Greeks had a thought, it occurred to them as a god or goddess giving an order. Apollo was telling them to be brave. Athena was telling them to fall in love.2002, Chuck Palahniuk, Lullaby
2. A representation of a deity, especially a statue or statuette.
3. (figuratively) Something or someone particularly revered, worshipped, idealized, admired and/or followed.
   • Leo Messi is my god!
   • whose god is their belly1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Philippians 3:19
4. (figuratively) A person in a very high position of authority, importance or influence; a powerful ruler or tyrant.
   • In 1951 Stalin was a god and the official tone towards the West was one of total antagonism.1959, Percy E. Corbett, Law in Diplomacy, page 105
5. (figuratively, informal) A person who is exceptionally skilled in a particular activity.
   • He is the god of soccer!
6. (figuratively, informal) An exceedingly handsome man.
   • Lounging on the beach were several Greek gods.
   • Someone had said he'd look a god in kilts.a. 1918, Wilfred Owen, Disabled
7. (Internet, roleplaying games) The person who owns and runs a multi-user dungeon.
   • The gods usually have several wizards, or "immortals," to assist them in building the MUD.1996, Andy Eddy, Internet after hours
   • The wizzes are only the junior grade of the MUD illuminati. The people who attain the senior grade of MUD freemasonry by starting their own MUD, with all due hubris, are known as gods.2003, David Lojek, Emote to the Max, page 11

   Synonyms:

   arch, imp

Verb

god (third-person singular simple present gods, present participle godding, simple past and past participle godded)

1. (transitive) To idolize.
   • CORIOLANUS: This last old man, / Whom with a crack'd heart I have sent to Rome, / Loved me above the measure of a father; / Nay, godded me, indeed.1608, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Coriolanus, act V, scene III
   • a. 1866, Edward Bulwer Lytton, "Death and Sisyphus".
     To men the first necessity is gods; / And if the gods were not, / " Man would invent them, tho' they godded stones.
2. (transitive) To deify.
   • Then got he bow and shafts of gold and lead, / In which so fell and puissant he grew, / That Jove himselfe his powre began to dread, / And, taking up to heaven, him godded new.1595, Edmund Spenser, Colin Clouts Come Home Againe
   • The superman marks the end of a road on which we find such figures as the "godded man" of English Reformation mystics1951, Eric Voegelin, Dante Germino ed., The New Science of Politics: An Introduction, published 1987, page 125

Proper noun (1) capitalized: God

God (usually uncountable, plural Gods)

1. (usually) The first deity of various theistic religions, and the only deity in monotheism.
   • Dawn believes in God, but Willow believes in gods and goddesses.
   • Hee that loueth not, knoweth not God: for God is loue1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 John 4:8
   1. (usually, Trinitarian Christianity) God the Father as distinguished from Jesus Christ, God the Son.
      • God sent Jesus to earth to be the King of the Jews; that is, the one to tell them what they should do. […] I will tell you why God let Jesus die upon the cross.1899, The Sunday School Journal, page 378
2. (usually) The single male deity of various bitheistic or duotheistic religions.
   • The ancients represented this fundamental duality mythologically as God and Goddess. When Mystery looks at itself, God looks at Goddess.2001, Timothy Freke, Peter Gandy, Jesus and the Lost Goddess, page 133
   • This reduces the successful invocation of God to a function of the presence of male genitalia. Put another way, women have the wrong equipment to invoke God.
   • Goddess and God flow throughout all of nature, through each and every man and woman, becoming fully present in the world.2005, Nikki Bado-Fralick, Coming to the Edge of the Circle, page 45
3. (usually) The transcendent principle, for example the ultimate cause or prime mover, often not considered as a person.
   • God (the great everlasting infinite First Cause from whom all things in heaven and earth proceed) [translating Chinese 道] can neither be defined nor named.1895, “The Tâo-Tĭh-King, or Thoughts on the Nature and Manifestations of God”, in G. G. Alexander, transl., Lâo-Tsze the Great Thinker […], page 55
   • For Aristotle, God as the ultimate ground is the being that is responsible for the workings of the rational cosmos, but not for itself.2000, Catriona Hanley, Being and God in Aristotle and Heidegger, →ISBN, page 195

Noun (2) capitalized: God

God (plural Gods)

1. A being such as a monotheistic God: a single divine creator and ruler of the universe.
   • A God there is, that guyds the Globe, and framde the fyckle Spheare.1563, Barnabe Googe, Eglogs, Epytaphes, and Sonettes, sig. Cviiiv
   • The Muéddin: God is great, there is no God but God.1911, Katharine Harris Bradley as Michael Field, Accuser, p. 158

Interjection capitalized: God

1. (abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of oh God: expressing annoyance or frustration.
   • God, is this because of the "I don't love you anymore" T-shirt I bought? It was a joke!
   • Admiral Anderson: God... feels like years since I just sat down.2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel (Priority: Earth)

Proper noun (2) capitalized: GOD

GOD

1. Typographical variant of God, particularly in English translations of the Bible.
   • Surely the Lord God [Hebrew: אדני יהוה] does nothing without revealing his purpose to his servants the prophets.2022, The Holy Bible (Open English Bible), Job 3:7

   Synonyms:

   LORD