go

pronunciation

How to pronounce go in British English: UK [ɡəʊ] word uk audio image

How to pronounce go in American English: US [ɡoʊ] word us audio image

Noun:

a time for working (after which you will be relieved by someone else)
street names for methylenedioxymethamphetamine
a usually brief attempt
a board game for two players who place counters on a grid; the object is to surround and so capture the opponent's counters
Verb:

change location; move, travel, or proceed
follow a procedure or take a course
move away from a place into another direction
enter or assume a certain state or condition
be awarded; be allotted
have a particular form
stretch out over a distance, space, time, or scope; run or extend between two points or beyond a certain point
follow a certain course
be abolished or discarded
be or continue to be in a certain condition
make a certain noise or sound
perform as expected when applied
to be spent or finished
progress by being changed
continue to live; endure or last
pass, fare, or elapse; of a certain state of affairs or action
pass from physical life and lose all all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life
be in the right place or situation
be ranked or compare
begin or set in motion
have a turn; make one's move in a game
be contained in
be sounded, played, or expressed
blend or harmonize
lead, extend, or afford access
be the right size or shape; fit correctly or as desired
go through in search of something; search through someone's belongings in an unauthorized way
be spent
give support (to) or make a choice (of) one out of a group or number
stop operating or functioning
Adjective:

functioning correctly and ready for action

Word Origin

go: go: [OE] Go is an ancient verb, traceable back to a prehistoric Indo-European base *ghēi- or *ghē-. This seems to have been relatively unproductive outside the Germanic languages (Sanskrit hā-, hī- ‘leave’ and Greek kikhánō ‘reach’ may be descendants of it), but it has provided the basic word for ‘move along, proceed’ in all the Germanic languages, including German gehen, Dutch gaan, Swedish gā, Danish gaa, and English go. In Old and Middle English its past tense was ēode, later yode, a word of uncertain origin, but from about 1500 this was replaced by went, originally the past tense of wend.

go (v.): Old English gan "to advance, walk; depart, go away; happen, take place; conquer; observe, practice, exercise," from West Germanic *gaian (cognates: Old Saxon, Old Frisian gan, Middle Dutch gaen, Dutch gaan, Old High German gan, German gehen), from PIE *ghe- "to release, let go" (cognates: Sanskrit jihite "goes away," Greek kikhano "I reach, meet with"), but there does not seem to be general agreement on a list of cognates. A defective verb throughout its recorded history; the Old English past tense was eode, a word of uncertain origin but evidently once a different verb (perhaps connected to Gothic iddja); it was replaced 1400s by went, past tense of wenden "to direct one's way" (see wend). In northern England and Scotland, however, eode tended to be replaced by gaed, a construction based on go. In modern English, only be and go take their past tenses from entirely different verbs. The word in its various forms and combinations takes up 45 columns of close print in the OED. Meaning "cease to exist" is from c. 1200; that of "to appear" (with reference to dress, appearance, etc.) is from late 14c.; that of "to be sold" is from early 15c. Meaning "to be known" (with by) is from 1590s; that of "pass into another condition or state" is from 1580s. From c. 1600 as "to wager," hence also "to stand treat," and to go (someone) better in wagering (1864). Meaning "say" emerged 1960s in teen slang. Colloquial meaning "urinate or defecate" attested by 1926, euphemistic (compare Old English gong "a privy," literally "a going"). To go back on "prove faithless to" is from 1859; to go under in the figurative sense "to fail" is from 1849. To go places "be successful" is by 1934.

go (n.): 1727, "action of going," from use of go (v.) to start a race, etc. Meaning "an incident, an occurrence, affair, piece of business" is from 1796. Meaning "power of going, dash, vigor" is from 1825, colloquial, originally of horses. The sense of "an attempt, a try or turn at doing something" (as in give it a go, have a go at) is from 1825 (earlier it meant "a delivery of the ball in skittles," 1773). Meaning "something that goes, a success" is from 1876. Phrase on the go "in constant motion" is from 1843. Phrase from the word go "from the beginning" is by 1834. The go "what is in fashion" is from 1793. No go "of no use" is from 1825.