geld

¹ American  

[geld] / gɛld /

verb (used with object)

gelded, gelt, gelding

1. to castrate (an animal, especially a horse).

2. to take strength, vitality, or power from; weaken or subdue.

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geld ² American  

[geld] / gɛld /

noun

English History.

1. a payment; tax.

2. a tax paid to the crown by landholders under the Anglo-Saxon and Norman kings.

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geld ¹ British  

/ ɡɛld /

verb

1. to castrate (a horse or other animal)

2. to deprive of virility or vitality; emasculate; weaken

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geld ² British  

/ ɡɛld /

noun

1. a tax on land levied in late Anglo-Saxon and Norman England

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Other Word Forms

• gelder noun
• ungelded adjective

Etymology

Origin of geld¹

1250–1300; Middle English gelden < Old Norse gelda

Origin of geld²

1600–10; < Medieval Latin geldum payment, tribute < Germanic; compare Old English geld, German Geld

Explanation

In farming and ranching, the verb geld means to castrate — or remove the sexual organs of — a male animal. A farmer might geld a horse so that he will be calmer and easier to ride. People who raise animals choose to geld them for various reasons. If a male animal is not going to be bred, or deliberately mated to produce offspring, it is often easier to manage him without his powerful hormones. When you geld an animal, he tends to be more mellow and well-behaved, making a gentler horse or donkey as a working animal or pet. The Old Norse root of geld is gelda, "castrate," from geldr, "barren."

Example Sentences

"Doing otherwise allows these public officials to geld the Constitution."

From Fox News • Jun. 26, 2020

Trainer Richard Mandella decided to geld the 5-year-old after Setsuko finished ninth in the Pacific Classic last August.

From Newsweek • Mar. 4, 2012

Interior Department agency, to geld 200 wild stallions over a six- to 10-year period in vast stretches of open range called the Pancake Complex, near Ely in eastern Nevada.

From Reuters • Dec. 22, 2011

Connections were forced to geld the horse recently after he attacked a member of staff.

From The Guardian • Mar. 12, 2011

And if you asked him to, he could geld a pony or castrate a pig with the same kind of delicate authoritative finesse Michelangelo must have used carving his Pietd.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols