Gad
/ɡæd/noun
A small pointed tool or spike; also, to wander about aimlessly.
Did you know?In older English, a gad could mean a goad or metal spike, and that same hard, pointed sense lives on in phrases like a cattle-gad and in the verb *to gad*—to roam restlessly.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*gadaz
“pointed stick, goad”
Old English
OE
gæd
“a goad or pointed implement”
Middle English
ME
gad
“a spike, goad, or pointed tool”
Modern English
English
gad
“a pointed tool; also, to wander about aimlessly”