Definitions

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

  • noun A domesticated ruminant mammal (Capra hircus) having backward curving horns and a beard in the male, raised for its wool, milk, and meat.
  • noun Any of various wild ruminant mammals of the genus Capra and related genera, including the ibexes and the wild goat (C. aegagrus) of Eurasia.
  • noun A lecherous man.
  • noun A person who is blamed for a failure or misfortune, especially a scapegoat.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Another spelling of gote.
  • noun A horned ruminant quadruped of the genus Capra (Or Hircus).
  • noun plural In zoology, the Caprinœ as a subfamily of Bovidœ or Antilopidœ. There are several genera and species. See Ægocerus, Capra, Hemitragus, Kemas.
  • noun Same as goatskin, 2.
  • noun A stepping-stone.

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

  • noun (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.
  • noun (Zoöl) one of several species of antelopes, which in some respects resemble a goat, having recurved horns, a stout body, large hoofs, and a short, flat tail, as the goral, thar, mazame, and chikara.
  • noun (Bot.) the wild fig.
  • noun [Obs.] A brothel.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any moth of the genus Cossus, esp. the large European species (Cossus ligniperda), the larva of which burrows in oak and willow trees, and requires three years to mature. It exhales an odor like that of the he-goat.
  • noun (Bot.) a scrophulariaceous plant, of the genus Capraria (Capraria biflora).
  • noun (Bot.) a poisonous plant (Aconitum Lucoctonum), bearing pale yellow flowers, introduced from Switzerland into England; wolfsbane.
  • noun (Bot.) a kind of wood sorrel (Oxalis caprina) growing at the Cape of Good Hope.
  • noun (Bot.) a leguminous plant (Galega officinalis of Europe, or Tephrosia Virginiana in the United States).
  • noun (Bot.) a thorny leguminous plant (Astragalus Tragacanthus), found in the Levant.
  • noun (Bot.) the genus Tragopyrum (now referred to Atraphaxis).

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

  • noun A mammal, of the genus Capra.
  • noun slang A lecherous man.
  • noun informal A scapegoat.
  • verb transitive To allow goats to feed on.
  • verb transitive To scapegoat.

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

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

Etymologies

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

[Middle English got, from Old English gāt.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English gote, goot, got, gat, from Old English gāt ("goat"), from Proto-Germanic *gaits (“goat”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰaid- (“kid, goat”). Cognate with Scots gait, gayt ("goat"), West Frisian geit ("goat"), Dutch geit ("goat"), Low German geit ("goat"), German Geiß ("goat"), Danish ged ("goat"), Swedish get ("goat"), Icelandic geit ("goat"), Latin haedus ("kid"), Old Church Slavonic заѩць (zajęcĭ, "hare"), Armenian ձի (ji, "horse"), Sanskrit हय (háya, "horse"), जिहीते (jihīte, "he jumps").

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Examples

Comments

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  • “Admittedly, I’m late to the party: goat is the most widely consumed meat in the world, a staple of, among others, Mexican, Indian, Greek and southern Italian cuisines.”

    The New York Times, How I Learned to Love Goat, by Henry Alford, March 31, 2009

    April 1, 2009

  • In Italy, I would say that it's rather élite food.

    April 1, 2009

  • Goat meat is very nice, though an older animal needs plenty of cooking. It's a perfect meat for curry. There was always goat in the freezer when I was a kid; we ate it about once a week. The surplus we sold live - the main buyers were muslims to whom my father didn't particularly like selling as he thought the halal method of slaughter was unnecessarily cruel. I agree, although I've visited a couple of (non-halal) slaughterhouses and they were crueller than I would've liked.

    Prolagus, that's really interesting. Elite? Is this a fad, or a tradition?

    April 1, 2009

  • I can't believe it's not goat!

    April 1, 2009

  • Grouped Optimal Aggregation Technique.

    April 1, 2009

  • (G)reatest (O)f (A)ll (T)ime

    June 17, 2009

  • Quote here.

    August 12, 2009

  • This is one of the best descriptions of goat behavior I've seen in print:

    "Before I could inquire further into his state of health, though, I was interrupted by the emergence from the barn of Mrs. Beardsley, leading six goats, roped together like a gang of jovially inebriate convicts."

    —Diana Gabaldon, The Fiery Cross (NY: Bantam Dell, 2001), 449

    January 20, 2010

  • Heehee!

    January 20, 2010

  • Sounds like a description of Australians.

    January 20, 2010

  • I like that the goat roper is named "Beardsley"!

    January 20, 2010

  • You know what I find? People who engage in frequent umbrage-taking really get my goat. The explanation for this is a little murky, but I think it has something to do with the beast's incorrigible tendency to wander into the umbrage patch and start nibbling. Next thing you know, it's been hustled into the thieving rascals' umbrage sack.

    Damned umbrage takers! They really get my goat.

    January 20, 2010

  • Special sale on oats for goats. Only five groats!

    January 20, 2010

  • Mares eat oats. And does eat oats. I take umbrage at the fact that you're offering oats only for goats. Wouldn't you?

    January 21, 2010

  • I'm with ruzuzu! After all, a kid'll eat ivy too. And oats.

    January 21, 2010

  • bilby... you're right. That's damn funny.

    January 21, 2010

  • "A narrow cavern or inlet, into which the sea enters." --Dr. Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary and Supplement, 1841.

    May 19, 2011

  • To paraphrase Charlie Brown, he's either gonna be the hero or the goat.

    July 28, 2015