Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- a castrated male animal, especially a horse.
- a eunuch.
verb (used with object), geld·ed or gelt, geld·ing.
- to castrate (an animal, especially a horse).
- to take strength, vitality, or power from; weaken or subdue.
noun
- a castrated male horse
verb gelds, gelding, gelded or gelt (tr)
- to castrate (a horse or other animal)
- to deprive of virility or vitality; emasculate; weaken
noun
- a tax on land levied in late Anglo-Saxon and Norman England
late 13c. (as a surname), from Old Norse geldingr, from gelda “castrate” (see geld (v.)).
“royal tax in medieval England,” Old English gield “payment, tribute,” from Proto-Germanic *geldam “payment” (cf. Middle High German gelt “payment, contribution,” German geld “money,” Old Norse gjald “payment,” Gothic gild “tribute, tax”), from PIE root of yield (v.).
“to castrate,” c.1300, from Old Norse gelda “castrate” from geldr “barren,” from Proto-Germanic *galdu-, from PIE *ghel- “to cut.” Related: Gelded. Cf. Old Norse geldr “yielding no milk, dry,” Old High German galt “barren,” said of a cow.