Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A tax paid to the crown by English landholders under Anglo-Saxon and Norman kings.
  • transitive verb To castrate (a horse, for example).
  • transitive verb To deprive of strength or vigor; weaken.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Gelded; castrated; rendered impotent.
  • Barren; sterile.
  • Not with young: as, a geld cow; a geld ewe.
  • Poor; needy.
  • noun A payment, tax, tribute, or fine: in modern histories and law-books in reference to the Anglo-Saxon period, chiefly in composition, as in Danegeld, wergeld or wergild, etc.
  • To castrate; emasculate: used especially of emasculating animals for economic purposes.
  • Hence To deprive of anything essential.
  • To expurgate, as a book or other writing.
  • In apiculture, to cut out old combs from (a hive) so that new ones may be built.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To castrate; to emasculate.
  • transitive verb To deprive of anything essential.
  • transitive verb obsolete To deprive of anything exceptionable; ; to expurgate.
  • noun obsolete Money; tribute; compensation; ransom.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Money; notably:
  • verb transitive To castrate a male (usually an animal).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb cut off the testicles (of male animals such as horses)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English geld and Medieval Latin geldum, both from Old English geld, gield, payment.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English gelden, from Old Norse gelda.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English geld and Medieval Latin geldum, both from Old English geld, ġield ("payment, tribute"), from Proto-Germanic *geldan (“reward, gift, money”), from Proto-Indo-European *gheldh- (“to pay”). Cognate with North Frisian jild ("money"), Saterland Frisian Jäild ("money"), Dutch geld ("money"), German Geld ("money"), Old Norse gjald ("payment"), Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐌻𐌳 (gild). Also related to English yield. Geld is also written gelt or gild, and as such found in wergild, Danegeld, etc. Probably reinforced by gelt (which see).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old Norse gelda ("geld, castrate"), from geldr ("yielding no milk, dry"), cognate with Old High German galt. Cognate with Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐌻𐌸𐌰 (gilþa, "sickle"). Compare the archaic German Gelze, “castrated swine” and gelzen ("castrate"), Danish galt ("boar") (from Old Norse gǫltr ("boar, hog"), cognate with English gilt) and gilde ("to geld"). "gelding" derives from Old Norse geldingr.

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Examples

  • That's gelt, Yiddish for dinero, not to be confused with geld, meaning "to castrate," though, come to think of it, that may be something to look at down the road for some impecunious serial inseminators who clog up the system.

    Lionel: Gelt For Geezers: Obama's New Healthcare Plan 2009

  • En ik betwijfel of het allemaal 'goede hackers' zijn, die gasten doen het niet om een technische prestatie neer te zetten maar voeren een standaardtrucje uit om geld te verdienen.

    my wow-account nathreee 2010

  • Nederlands · Japan: De walvisjacht, voor wetenschappelijk onderzoek of om geld te verdienen?

    Global Voices in English » Japan: Whaling. Scientific research or commercial hunting? 2009

  • The agency also planned to geld about 175 stallions in Wyoming last summer, but backed off under fire from animal-rights activists.

    Mustang Plan Riles the West Stephanie Simon 2012

  • Sure, only a million or so of us lovesick fans are still waiting by the "phone," but, heck, a million sales for an e-book is good geld for producers and writers, and allow us some closure and a civilized chance to say goodbye.

    Yolanda Reid Chassiakos: Play Fair, Networks Yolanda Reid Chassiakos 2010

  • The pilot project in Nevada, which aims to geld 200 stallions over the next six to 10 years, was designed to let scientists study the efficacy and side effects of castration, said Heather Emmons, a bureau spokeswoman.

    Mustang Plan Riles the West Stephanie Simon 2012

  • They suggest instead providing free hay to economically strapped owners; opening low-cost clinics to geld horses to reduce breeding; even requiring anyone buying a horse to pay an up-front fee to cover euthanasia by a veterinarian when needed.

    Rethinking Horse Slaughterhouses Stephanie Simon 2011

  • Sure, only a million or so of us lovesick fans are still waiting by the "phone," but, heck, a million sales for an e-book is good geld for producers and writers, and allow us some closure and a civilized chance to say goodbye.

    Yolanda Reid Chassiakos: Play Fair, Networks Yolanda Reid Chassiakos 2010

  • One was Tucker Carlson, who seemed fixated on the possibility that the candidate might geld him.

    Big Girls Don’t Cry Rebecca Traister 2010

  • Only this time we will not forget or forgive either their traitorous attempts to geld the Constitution nor their aid and comfort to the enemy.

    Obama hasn’t been blaming Bush enough 2010

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