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

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