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

In one way or another, he had amassed a princely fortune, and had apparently only one sorrow, his daughter to wit, who had absconded into a Kloster, with a considerable slice of the mother’s Geld.

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 23 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis

Antonio gennant Valsoldo, Bildhauer von Mailand, machte sich um 1580 in Rom als Restaurator antiker Werke einen Namen, arbeitete aber nur, um Geld zur Schwelgerei zu bekommen.

From Ex Voto by Butler, Samuel

In old German, the word for money, Geld, means everything that is paid by any one.

From Principles Of Political Economy by Lalor, John J. (John Joseph)

On receiving the change I found it was only two Dollar Rix Geld, a depreciated currency, after which I offered, with a remonstrance, a two dollar 'Banco' note.

From Charles Philip Yorke, Fourth Earl of Hardwicke, Vice-Admiral R.N. — a Memoir by Ledbury, Lady Biddulph of

Geld, gelded or gelt, gelding, gelded or gelt.

From The Grammar of English Grammars by Brown, Goold