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gaud

[gawd]
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noun
  1. a showy ornament or trinket.
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Origin of gaud

1300–50; Middle English, perhaps < Anglo-French, noun use of gaudir to rejoice < Latin gaudēre to enjoy
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

baublecuriocuriositygewgawgimcrackknickknacknoveltyornamenttriflegaudwhatnot

Examples from the Web for gaud

Historical Examples

  • There was one for him, postmarked "Paimpol," but it was not Gaud's writing.

    An Iceland Fisherman

    Pierre Loti

  • They no more thought of Gaud than of any other woman, or any marrying.

  • And while they worked, Gaud looked attentively around the home of these Gaoses.

  • Gaud excused herself as if she were responsible for her state.

  • She was still so sweet in her lucid days, that Gaud did not cease to respect and cherish her.

British Dictionary definitions for gaud

gaud

noun
  1. an article of cheap finery; trinket; bauble
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Word Origin

C14: probably from Old French gaudir to be joyful, from Latin gaudēre
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for gaud

n.

late 14c., "jest, joke, prank, trick;" also "fraud, deception, trick, artifice." Also "large, ornamental bead in a rosary" (mid-14c.); a bauble, trinket, plaything" (mid-15c.). In some senses, from gaudy (n.) (see gaudy). In some, from Latin gaudium "joy," gaude "rejoice thou" (in hymns), or from Old French gaudie, noun of action from gaudir. As a verb, "to furnish with gauds," from late 14c. Related: Gauded; gauding.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper