gad1
/ɡad
/verb (gads, gadding, gadded) [no object] informal
Go from place to place in the pursuit of pleasure: he had heard that I was gadding about with an airline stewardess...
- It is very exciting, but I am here all alone whilst she gads around talking to men with beards.
- And while you're gadding about, why not visit the biblical-sounding Burning Mountain - which actually is burning, and has been for about a thousand years, ever since an underground coal seam caught fire.
- With Americans gadding around in high-riding 4WD off-roaders, Puerto Santo Tomás hardly qualifies as remote: If we could make it in our car, it isn't remotely remote.
Synonyms
gallivant, jaunt around, flit around, run around, travel around, roam (around);
wander, rove, ramble, traipse, meander, stray
Phrases
on (or upon) the gad
Origin
Late Middle English: back-formation from obsolete gadling 'wanderer, vagabond', (earlier) 'companion', of Germanic origin.
Gad as in gad about was probably formed from obsolete gadling which first meant ‘companion’ but later had the meaning ‘wanderer, vagabond’. The origin is Germanic. Another view is that it is from obsolete gad meaning ‘rush about like an animal stung by gad-flies’, which is a possibility, but some of the evidence does not support this theory.
Rhymes
gad2
/ɡad/exclamation archaic
An expression of surprise or emphatic assertion: By gad! You look young for a doctor!...
- The host's pretentious huffiness assures you that the blindfolded lady holding the scales is not only implacable and inescapable but - by gad, sir!
- [One neighbor] expressed the disgust of the others when he remarked, ‘Well, I did play marbles when I was a kid, but by gad this is the first time I've seen men play!’
- Click on one of the ‘recent posts on PDC Bloggers’ and by gad sir, you get straight through to a perfectly respectable article in the aforementioned perfectly respectable publication.
Origin
Late 15th century: euphemistic alteration of God.
Gad3
/ɡad/1(In the Bible) a Hebrew patriarch, son of Jacob and Zilpah.
1.1The tribe of Israel traditionally descended from Gad.
Gad4
/ɡad
/exclamation
Used to express dismay or surprise.
Origin
Late 15th century: euphemistic alteration of God.