geld
pronunciation
How to pronounce geld in British English:
UK [ɡeld]
How to pronounce geld in American English:
US [ ɡeld]
-
- Verb:
- cut off the testicles (of male animals such as horses)
Word Origin
- geld (n.)
- royal tax in medieval England, c. 1600, as a historical term, from Medieval Latin geldum, from Old English gield "payment, tax, tribute, compensation," from Proto-Germanic *geldam "payment" (cognates: Middle High German gelt "payment, contribution," German geld "money," Old Norse gjald "payment," Gothic gild "tribute, tax"), from PIE root *gheldh- "to pay" (see yield (v.)).
- geld (v.)
- "to castrate," c. 1300, from Old Norse gelda "to castrate," said in Watkins to be from Proto-Germanic *galdjan "to castrate," from PIE *ghel- (3) "to cut." Related to other words which, if the derivation is correct, indicate a general sense of "barren." Compare Old Norse geld-fe "barren sheep" and geldr (adj.) "barren, yielding no milk, dry," which yielded Middle English geld "barren" (of women and female animals); also Old High German galt "barren," said of a cow. Related: Gelded; gelding.
Example
- 1. She groaned and geld her head .
- 2. Touch me again and I 'll geld you !
- 3. Under anglo-saxon and norman kings english landholders paid geld to the crown .
- 4. Castrate : to remove the testicles of ( a male ) ; geld or emasculate .