goat

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various hollow-horned, bearded ruminant mammals of the genus Capra, originally of mountainous areas of the Old World, especially any of the domesticated forms of C. hircus, raised for wool, milk, and meat.
2. n. A lecherous man.
3. n. A scapegoat.
4. n. See Capricorn.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A horned ruminant quadruped of the genus Capra (Or Hircus). The horns are hollow, erect, turned backward, annular, scabrous, and anteriorly ridged. The male is generally bearded under the chin. Goats are nearly of the size of sheep, but stronger, less timid, and more agile. They frequent rocks and mountains, and subsist on scanty coarse food. They are sprightly, capricious, and wanton, and their strong odor (technically called hireine) is proverbial. Their milk is sweet, nourishing, and medicinal, and their flesh furnishes food. Goats are of several species, and it is not certainly known from which the domestic goat (C. hircus) is descended, though opinion favors the Persian paseng, C. œgagrus, (See cut under œgagrus.) It is quite likely that more than this one feral stock has contributed to the domestic breeds. Goats are all indigenous to the eastern hemisphere, though now raised in all parts of the world, and many varieties are valued for their hair or wool, as the Cashmere goat, the Angora goat, the dwarf or Guinean goat, the Egyptian or Nubian, the Maltese, the Nepȧl, the Syrian, etc. Some of them are hornless. The nearest wild relative of the goat is the ibex. The so-called Rocky Mountain goat belongs to a different group (see below). The name goat is often extended to some goat-like antelopes, as the dzeren. The male of the goat is called a buck, and the young a kid. The sexes are distinguished as ha-goats and she-goats, or colloquially as billy-goats and nanny-goats.
2. n. plural In zoology, the Caprinœ as a subfamily of Bovidœ or Antilopidœ. There are several genera and species. See Ægocerus, Capra, Hemitragus, Kemas.
3. n. Same as goatskin, 2.
4. n. A stepping-stone.
5. n. Another spelling of gote.

Wiktionary

1. n. A mammal, of the genus Capra.
2. n. slang A lecherous man.
3. n. informal A scapegoat.
4. v. transitive To allow goats to feed on.
5. v. transitive To scapegoat.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) A hollow-horned ruminant of the genus Capra, of several species and varieties, esp. the domestic goat (Capra hircus), which is raised for its milk, flesh, and skin.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. (astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Capricorn
2. n. the tenth sign of the zodiac; the sun is in this sign from about December 22 to January 19
3. n. any of numerous agile ruminants related to sheep but having a beard and straight horns
4. n. a victim of ridicule or pranks