go-aheadadj.n.
/ˈɡəʊəhɛd/, U.S. /ˈɡoʊəˌhɛd/ A. adj. (chiefly attributive).† 4. British. Designating an agent who travels ahead of a touring theatrical company, circus, etc., in order to conduct some of its business in advance of its arrival. Cf. sense B. 4. Obsolete.
1. colloquial (originally U.S.). Displaying or characterized by eagerness to proceed with something; headlong; (sometimes) hasty, precipitate. Also: moving forcefully forward (literal and figurative), having forward momentum. Now rare except as merged in sense A. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > rapidity or speed of action or operation > [adjective] > prompt to act
radeOE
yevereOE
snellOE
ratheOE
spacka1200
quickc1300
eagerc1325
readyc1330
tallc1374
smartc1380
desirousc1386
rifec1390
promptc1425
speedy?1504
nimblea1547
present1548
go-ahead1825
1825 Let. 26 Dec. in Connecticut Jrnl. (1826) 28 Feb. He is a zealous go-ahead speaker, occasionally hesitating, though but seldom.
1838 Daily National Intelligencer (Washington) 22 Jan. The official report..was galloped by the Secretary to satisfy the go-ahead impatience of the suffering crowd.
1880 J. D. Dana Man. Geol. (ed. 3) 116 An animal, as its ordinary movements manifest, is preëminently a go-ahead thing.
1884 G. Allen Philistia III. 196 Straight off without a break, in her go-ahead, breathless, voluble fashion.
1900 Cornhill Mag. July 13 The troops..had attacked the hill in their best go-ahead manner and had been shot in droves.
1959 Evergreen Rev. Winter 172 First, the pushy, go-ahead fanfare, then the other phrase of harmonies that keep sliding without advancing.
2. colloquial (originally U.S.). Displaying or characterized by initiative and energy; enterprising; receptive to or enthusiastic about new ideas, progressive; (more generally) associated with or expressive of entrepreneurialism, enterprise, etc.The earliest examples seem to show simple attributive use of the verbal phrase rather than a development from sense A. 1.
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the world > action or operation > manner of action > vigour or energy > [adjective] > energetic or enterprising
adventurousc1330
emprising1584
enterprising1601
spirited1601
yanking1823
go-ahead1829
go-aheadative1836
go-aheadish1851
fore-reaching1864
get-up-and-get1874
rustling1877
outpushing1884
thrustful1909
go-getting1912
push-and-go1916
can-do1926
go-go-go1954
1829 Logansport (Indiana) Tel. 15 June The go-ahead principle is carried out in Massachusetts to the fullest extent.
1835 Boston Courier 25 June To find, where but a few years ago were scarcely any settlements by the white man, a beautiful, bustling, thriving village..gives some faint idea of the go-ahead enterprize which you find every where upon the Penobscot.
1837 Daily National Intelligencer (Washington) 29 July All we want now to give our country the go-ahead spirit again..is a regulator of the domestic exchanges.
1838 Logansport (Indiana) Herald 25 Jan. We can read our future destiny in the industrious and ‘go ahead’ citizens of our own county.
1851 Manch. Examiner & Times 24 May 8/3 (advt.) The present age, without doubt, is a go-ahead one.
1864 C. Kingsley Let. 26 Mar. in Life (1879) II. 167 What a go-a-head place France is!
1920 J. Galsworthy In Chancery i. i. 11 His family remained hopelessly provincial... In these go-ahead days their provincialism stared out even more than it used to.
1976 Times 12 Feb. 25/7 (advt.) We seek a responsible, go-ahead ‘Person Friday’ with personality, writing ability and experience in press and promotions.
1994 Oxf. Star 13 Oct. 74/3 Go-ahead Marston Middle School was one of the first in the country to set up a bully court.
2006 J. F. Walker Painting Digital River v. 140 I switched from studying painting to studying sculpture... The sculpture department was far more go-ahead.
3. Designating a signal, instruction, etc., indicating that someone or something should go forward or proceed. Cf. sense B. 3.
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1847 Cleveland (Ohio) Herald 20 May Capt. Belden had rung his ‘go ahead’ bell, and the ‘States’ promptly rounded the beacon, bound down.
1896 Railway & Locomotive Engin. 9 23/2 In future, in giving a go-ahead signal please hold the lantern directly in front of you and raise and lower it vertically.
1923 U.S. Dept. Agric. Farmers' Bull. No. 1316. 7 The early planter may be said to have received the ‘go ahead’ sign.
1941 B.B.C. Gloss. Broadcasting Terms 13 Go-ahead signal, spoken instruction from a control room to the personnel at a programme source, indicating that all is ready for a programme to begin.
1986 Pop. Mech. Sept. 38/3 Spectra tells you your distance from the subject and, if all's okay, gives you a green go-ahead light.
2006 Times 27 Oct. (Times2 section) 13/4 I ask him if crooning can be taught and he says ‘But of course’ and makes a go-ahead sign with his hand.
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1860 All Year Round 29 Sept. 596/1 To discover that you had suddenly obtained the appointment of ‘stunning first-rate go-ahead agent in advance’ to the ‘Lancashire clog-dancer and dulcimer-player, and the comic gentleman (Irish)’.
1879 Era 16 Feb. 4/4 (advt.) Mr. S. Chester will shortly be at liberty as good go-ahead bill or advance agent. Circus or respectable entertainment.
B. n.† 1. U.S. colloquial.† 4. British. An agent who travels ahead of a touring theatrical company, circus, etc., in order to conduct some of its business in advance of its arrival. Obsolete.
a. A horse, train, etc., capable of great speed. Obsolete.
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1833 New-Hampsh. Statesman 27 July He laughed out loud when I told him, he [sc. the horse] was one of the greatest go aheads in all Varmount.
1839 Boston Morning Post 17 Sept. The Yankees make these go aheads [sc. locomotives] better than the English can.
b. Capacity to make rapid forward progress. Obsolete.
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1834 Western Monthly July 369 A Chesapeake schooner, which has so much of the ‘go-ahead’ in its make, that..we could almost think it would sail without wind, tide, or any other prime mover, through mere inclination.
1844 G. W. Kendall Narr. Santa Fé Exped. II. xix. 362 There is a little ‘go-ahead’ in a spirited, showy, well-trained Mexican horse.
2. U.S. colloquial. Initiative, enterprise; entrepreneurial spirit; progressiveness; drive, ambition.
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the world > action or operation > manner of action > vigour or energy > [noun] > energy or enterprise
undertakingc1400
enterprisec1450
energy1793
dynamism1831
go-aheadism1838
get-up1841
go-ahead1843
go-aheadness1847
drive1859
get-up-and-get1865
get-up-and-go1871
get-there-ativeness1883
push-and-go1885
hustle1892
go-getting1919
go-gettingness1928
dynamicism1947
go-go-go1954
society > authority > lack of subjection > permission > [noun] > permission to proceed
green light1839
go-ahead1843
1843 Pennsylvania Inquirer 24 Jan. Could we see Pennsylvania Avenue or Chesnut street, 3000 or 3500 years hence..as, perhaps in the American epoch and spirit of go-ahead—anything ahead would be peculiarly charming.
1854 S. G. Goodrich Parley's Present 98 He was full of life and enterprise; full of go-ahead; full of self-confidence and self-conceit.
1885 W. D. Howells Rise Silas Lapham xi Some of the fellows that had the most go-ahead were fellows that hadn't ever had much more to do than girls before the war broke out.
1893 Preston Guardian 18 Mar. 8/5 We..lived in an age of rush and dash, the age of go ahead.
1907 2nd Ann. Rep. Ontario Poultry Inst. 141 If we had the kind of people here in Ontario that we have in the west we would have more go-ahead in us.
1988 Brit. Jrnl. Photogr. 5 May 35/1 (advt.) An experienced lab manager, capable of all round darkroom processes, enthusiastic attitude and lots of go-ahead, is required.
2005 S. A. Sandage Born Losers i. 36 The fable of the conscientious debtor papered over a schism between the spirit of go-ahead and the cult of moral obligation.
3. A signal, order, or invitation to proceed; (with the) permission or authorization to proceed.
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society > communication > indication > signalling > [noun] > signal > other specific signals
return1835
go-ahead1849
highball signal1899
pan1927
go1933
alert1970
1849 Florist Sept. 236 12:25 is the starting-time; and, hark! there is the bell—the whistle—the ‘go-ahead’.
1916 Virginia Law Reg. 2 480 The tower man was handing me the back-up and somebody else was giving me the go-ahead.
1948 Sierra Club Bull. (San Francisco) May 2/2 It must receive Congressional approval..for its go-ahead on construction.
1967 Listener 30 Mar. 429/1 B.E.A., which now has the backing of four major airlines for its project, is very confident that it will get the go-ahead.
2007 New Scientist 17 Feb. 5/4 Africa's largest trial yet of a vaccine against HIV received the go-ahead on 8 February.
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1853 Era 16 Oct. (advt.) Wanted, a go-ahead... Also some good Ethiopians and wizard, to perform in, and near London.
1861 All Year Round 16 Nov. 184/2 ‘The agent in advance’, or go-ahead, as he is now called,..accompanied by a bill-sticker, starts off in advance of the troupe.
Derivatives
ˌgo-aˈheadedness n. [ < go-ahead adj. + -ed suffix2 + -ness suffix, probably influenced by nouns in -headedness, e.g. hot-headedness n. at hot-headed adj. Derivatives, lightheadedness n. at light-headed adj. Derivatives] now rare
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1839 Spirit of Times 15 June 175/2 Indeed, the go-aheadedness of Kentucky no one ever doubted.
1881 Daily News 28 Dec. 3/1 The go-aheadedness of the United States.
1945 Parl. Deb. (N. Irel.) 28 401 I feel that in his office he might show some of the go-aheadedness that he showed in the House when he was not in office.
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1839 Daily Herald & Gaz. (Cleveland, Ohio) 30 Mar. The real go-a-head-ity of the country is at the West.
1844 G. W. Kendall Narr. Santa Fé Exped. I. x. 214 The indefatigable go-a-headity which characterizes the Anglo-Saxon race.
1865 E. Burritt Walk to Land's End iv. 113 I am inclined to think much of this go-aheadity without brakes comes from periodical excesses of the young-man power poured in upon England from America and Australia.
ΚΠ
1844 Knickerbocker Mag. 24 73 Our state of society in America with..its helter-skelterism and go-aheadivity.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2015; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.n.1825