▪ I. geld, n. Hist.
(gɛld)
Also incorrectly gelt, gheld. See also gild n.2
[ad. med.L. geldum (in Domesday Book), ad. OE. ᵹield, ᵹeld, ᵹyld, str. neut., payment, tribute, also guild; = OFris. geld, jeld money, OS. geld payment (MDu. gelt, Du. geld money), OHG. gelt (MHG. gelt, mod.Ger. geld), ON. giald payment, reward (Sw. gäld, Da. gjæld), Goth. gild tribute:—OTeut. *geldo{supm}, f. root of *gelþan: see yield v.
In the 17th c. confused with gelt n.2 (which is in fact identical in ultimate etymology); hence the spelling gelt.]
1. The tax paid to the crown by English landholders before the Conquest, and continued under the Norman kings.
| 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 294 When Gelt was giuen in the time of King Edward. a 1645 Habington Surv. Worcs. in Worcs. Hist. Soc. Proc. ii. 147 Tenne of thease hydes are free from Geld by testimony of the County. 1655 Fuller Walth. Abb. 7 Free from all gelts and payments. 1759 B. Martin Nat. Hist. Eng. II. Suffolk 40 The First called the Geldable, because it paid Geld, or Tribute. 1864 Sir F. Palgrave Norm. & Eng. III. 558 Geld after Geld had been exacted from the people. |
b. A district paying ‘geld’. rare—1.
| 1809 Bawdwen Domesday Bk. 2 Within the geld of the city there are fourscore and four carucates of land to be taxed. |
2. Comb., as geld inquest, geld levy, geld roll; also geld-acre, -hide (Domesday acra, hida ad geldum), the quantity of land which was reckoned as an acre or a hide for the purposes of ‘geld’.
| 1878 R. W. Eyton Key to Domesday 4 The hidation prescribed by the then most recent Gheld-Roll,—that of Easter 1084. Ibid. 14 In Dorset the Gheld-hide was subdivided into four virgates. 1880 ― Domesday Stud. I. Pref. 2–3 The nature of the Gheld-Inquest may be told in a very few words. After Christmas 1083, King William levied a tax of six shillings on every hide of land. This was the Gheld-Levy of which we are now speaking. Ibid. 6 For so great a number of Gheld-acres would be expressed in other terms. |
▪ II. geld, a. Obs. exc. dial.
(gɛld)
See also yeld.
[a. ON. geld-r = OSw. gald-er (mod.Sw. dial. gall, gåll, Da. gold), OHG. galt (mod.Ger. gelt, said of a cow):—OTeut. *galdu- (which, like other adj. -u- stems, has passed into the -o- and -jo- declensions).]
1. Of women or female animals: Barren. Now dial. in restricted application (see quot. 1869).
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 33 Giff ha ne mei nawt teamen, ha is iclepet gealde. a 1300 Cursor M. 2600 Nan barns ber, þou seis, mai i..For i am geld þat es me wa. c 1460 Towneley Myst. x. 134 Elesabeth, thi Cosyn, that is cald geld. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 9 A good gimmer shearinge goinge geld. 1869 Lonsdale Gloss. s.v., ‘A geld cow or ewe’ = a cow or ewe not with young at the usual time. |
| absol. a 1300 Cursor M. 12257 (Gött.) Þat þe geld þair fruiting find. a 1300 E.E. Psalter cxii[i]. 9 Þat geld in houses makes wonand, Moder ofe sones to be faineand. |
b. dial. (See quot.)
| 1878 Cumbld. Gloss., Geld grund, a mining term signifying ground devoid of minerals. |
† 2. Sexually impotent. (In quot. 1440 perh. var. gelt ppl. a.) Obs.
| c 1325 Old Age 1 in E.E.P. (1862) 148 Elde makiþ me geld an growen al grai. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 190/1 Geldynge, or gelde horse, canterius. |
† 3. Profitless, yielding no satisfaction. Also, destitute of. Obs.
| a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. 24 Of gomenes he mai gon al gelde. Ibid. 48 Alle myn godes me at-goht, myn gomenes waxeth gelde. |
▪ III. geld, v.1
(gɛld)
Also 4–5 gild(e, 6–7 gueld(e. Inflected gelt and gelded.
[a. ON. gelda (= MSw. gälda, mod.Sw. gälla, Da. gilde), f. geld-r geld a. Cf. Ger. dial. gelten (Grimm s.v. gelzen); the Ger. gelzen, Du. gelten (obs.) may be more remotely connected.]
1. trans. a. To deprive (a male) of generative power or virility, to castrate or emasculate.
Obsolescent in general literary use; current in technical language with reference to animals.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 26033 Samson..bath was geldid and mad blind. 1382 Wyclif Matt. xix. 12 Geldyngis that han geldid hem self, for the kyngdam of heuenes. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 275 He mai ete..of beestis þat ben gildid. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 1164 Toolis forto gelde, and clippe and shere. a 1535 How the Plowman lerned, etc. 7 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 210 He coude..Thresshe, fane, and gelde a swyne. 1555 Eden Decades 3 Such chyldren as they take, they geld to make them fat. 1602 Middleton Blurt ii. ii. C 3 b, She threatens to geld me vnlesse I bee lustie. 1674 tr. Scheffer's Lapland xxviii. 131 Those [rein-deer] that are designed for labour they commonly gueld. 1727 Swift, etc. Mem. P.P. Misc. II. 275, I was sought unto to geld the Lady Frances her Spaniel, which was wont to go astray. 1775 Johnson in Boswell 6 Apr., A Judge may be a farmer; but he is not to geld his own pigs. |
| transf. (jocularly). 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. ii. iii. 657 Is there no body heere will take the paines to gelde his mouth? |
b. To extirpate the ovaries of (a female), to spay.
| 1557 Tusser 100 Points Husb. liii, Geld marefoles. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 521 The female also is gelt or splayed. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. iii. iv. ii. (1651) 623 The Lydians used to geld women whom they suspected. 1862 J. Wilson Farming 36 It seems to have been the practice..to ‘geld fillies’ as well as colts. 1869 in Lonsdale Gloss. |
† 2. transf. and fig. To deprive of some essential part; to cut down the resources of, to impair the strength or force of, to weaken, enfeeble. Obs.
| 1508 Dunbar Tua marriit Wemen 392 Quhen I that grome geldit had of gudis, and of natur. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Circuncido, Stipendia circuncidere..to deminish or gelde mennes wages. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 520 Scarse can a Bishoprick forpas them by, But that it must be gelt in priuitie. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, ii. i. 237 Bereft and gelded of his patrimonie. 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. Wks. (Grosart) V. 55 So would he that first gelt religion or Church-liuings had..neuer liued. 1607 Dekker & Webster Northw. Hoe iv. F 2, Shee gelded my purse of fifty pounds in ready money. 1622 H. Sydenham Serm. Sol. Occ. (1637) 123 Who dwelling too critically upon God's omnia potest, went about to geld his omnipotence. 1630 B. Jonson New Inn i. iii. (1631) B 4, Or geld a iewell Of an odde stone, or so. 1651 Charleton Ephes. & Comm. Matrons ii. Pref., You gave me good Wine, and then gelt it with Water. 1658 Osborn Q. Eliz. 77 To keep the Church humble and quiet whilest she gelt their Sees by exchanges, and other mortifications of their power and estates. 1705 Hickeringill Priestcr. iv. Wks. 1716 III. 211 I'll take..the Sting from the Tails of the Wasps, I'll Gueld them from doing Mischief. |
† b. To mutilate (a book, a quotation, etc.) by excising certain portions, esp. objectionable or obscene passages; to expurgate. Cf. castrate 4.
| 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 338 Which..he hath mangled and gelded, least the true sense might be gathered out of it. 1583 ― Defence xiii. 358 Thus you vse to gelde the Doctors sayings, when you rehearse them. 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche ix. cxcvi, They, by his authentick Copie know Both how to geld and to adulterate it. 1693 Salmon Bates' Disp. (1713) A iij, So that I could by no Means..have gelt the Text, or obliterated any Part thereof, without a manifest Wrong and Injury to the Author. 1729 Reliq. Hearn. (1857) II. 696 Several covers of books..have been discovered..but the valuable contents gelt. |
† c. To cut out (portions of a book). Obs.
| 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions i. v. 69 Who so..in lettres and writinges..should guelde out any thyng. |
† d. To garble, remove the best part from. Obs.
| 1637 T. Morton New Eng. Canaan (1883) 269 Meane time the skinnes were by the Wessaguscus men gelded, and the better halfe by them juggled away before the owner came. |
3. In Gardening, Bee-keeping, etc. [In all the uses, after L. castrare.] † a. To cut, to prune or remove superfluous shoots, etc., from (a plant or tree); (see also quot. 1523). Obs.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §29 Loke that your sherers..geld not your beanes, that is to saye, to cutte the beanes so hye, that the nethermoste codde growe styll on the stalke. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 536 By the third yeare it must be quite cut in two (where before it was but guelded to the pith). 1615 W. Lawson New Orch. & Gard. vii. (1623) 16 The second yeere in the Spring, geld his top. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 386 For which cause good farmers are carefull to geld and weed out some of the boughes of such a Tree. 1658 Evelyn Fr. Gard. (1675) 153 The vines and superfluous shoots must be guelded. 1664 ― Kal. Hort. (1729) 199 Geld and prune Strawberries. |
† b. To cleanse or remove the husks from (wheat). Obs.
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 563 The very pure corn of Campain wheat, which they cal guelded, i. wel husked and clensed. 1611 [see gelded 2]. |
† c. To cut out the old comb from (a bee-hive); to take out (the comb). Obs.
| 1574 T. Hill Ord. Bees xxiii, So that when they [the hives] shall be next gelded, the old combes rather then the new be taken forth. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme i. lxviii. 328 It will be good..at such times as their Combes are to be gelded, to smoake them. 1657 S. Purchas Pol. Flying-Ins. 135 If any Hive bee taken, driven, or gelded. |
d. dial. To cut off the top of (an ant-hill) and throw the inside over the land.
| 1831 Loudon Encycl. Agric. (ed. 2) 902 What is called ‘gelding’ ant-hills. 1839 Herefordsh. Gloss s.v., ‘To geld anty tumps’, is to cut off the tops of ant-hills, and to throw the inside over the land. 1848 [see gelding vbl. n.]. |
▪ IV. geld, v.2 Hist.
(gɛld)
Also erron. gelt; and see gild v.2
[f. geld n.1; after med.L. geldāre.]
1. trans. To charge with ‘geld’.
| c 1630 Risdon Surv. Devon §67 (1810) 64 This place was never gelded. 1891 P. G. Stone Archit. Antiq. Isle of Wight 129 It was gelted for half a hide. |
2. intr. To pay ‘geld’.
| c 1630 Risdon Surv. Devon §228 (1810) 244 West Putford..gelded after thirty shillings. 1890 Gross Gild Merch. I. 258 Exeter ‘gelded’ when London, York, and Winchester ‘gelded’. |