▪ I. gelt, n.1 rare.
(gɛlt)
Also 9 geilt.
[a. Irish geilt a mad or frenzied person.
In the Chron. Scot. p. 122 the Irish gealta (pl.) is explained by volatiles. According to the Old Norse work Konungs Skuggsjá (Speculum Regale) c. 11, a gelt was one who went mad with fear in battle, and thenceforth lived in the woods like a wild beast. In ON. the phrase verða at gialti ‘to become frantic’, is in frequent use (in Cleasby-Vigfusson wrongly placed under gǫltr boar), and two instances of the madness itself are described in Eyrbyggja Saga, the persons being Celts.]
A lunatic.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. vii. 21 Like a ghastly Gelt whose wits are reaved. 1894 Q. Rev. Oct. 331 The vision of the long-haired, long-robed Geilt. |
▪ II. gelt, n.2
(gɛlt)
Also 7 ghelt, guelt.
[a. Ger., Du. geld money: see geld n.]
Money; in early use often with reference to the pay of a (German) army; now only slang. † bare gelt (= Ger. baares geld, Du. baar geld) ready money. † passage gelt: tr. of Ger. fahrgeld passage money.
| a 1529 Skelton E. Rumming 610 That nothynge had There of theyr awne Neyther gelt nor pawne. 1591 Wotton Let. in Reliq. Wotton. (1685) 616 It..amounts to not above 12000 Fr. Rhenish, yearly, in bare gelt. 1629 Maxwell tr. Herodian (1635) 343 The Germans..being very greedy of Ghelt. 1648 Let. in Cromwelliana (1810) 48 Sufficient to make any soldiers in the world that fights only for gelt, to sheath, and be gone. 1658 Ussher Annals 299 His whole army cryed out for gelt, and he promised them pay. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Gelt, money. There is no Gelt to be got. a 1712 W. King Ulysses & Tiresias 16 Lineage and virtue at this push, Without the gelt, 's not worth a rush. 1745 Lond. Mag. 402 Both Natives and Foreigners are forced to pay passage Gelt. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxiii, All the gelt was gone. 1875 Whitby Gloss., Gelt, profit. 1876 Mid-Yorksh. Gloss. s.v., I sniled a bird yesterday..and while I was doing it..over went my egg-basket; so there wern't much gelt out of that. 1892 I. Zangwill Childr. Ghetto II. i. xxii. 165 Fourteen Shtibbur's a lot of Gelt. 1960 Observer 24 Jan. 7/1 Had I ever heard the underworld saying: No grass ever grasses for gelt alone? 1968 C. Drummond Death & Leaping Ladies iv. 80 ‘The gelt?’ said Reed... ‘Four thousand dollars,’ said Miss Pocket. |
¶ In the following examples, perh. a pseudo-archaism for gold.
| 1538 Bale Thre Lawes 1832 Myght I haue bene stopped for syluer or for gelte. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Feb. 65, I wonne her with a gyrdle of gelt. |
▪ III. gelt, ppl. a.
(gɛlt)
[pa. pple. of geld v.]
Gelded, castrated. lit. and fig.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 190/1 Gelt, castratus. Ibid., Gelt mann, spado. 1599 Marston Sco. Villanie i. iii. 185 By chance..Hath got the farme of some gelt Vicary. 1626 Bacon Sylva §852 Eunuchs and Gelt Creatures of all kindes. 1639 T. de Grey Compl. Horsem. 219 A horse or mare-filly that is cut, gelt, or spla. 1659 Fuller App. Inj. Innoc. (1840) 287, I remembered the man who moved in chancery for a gelt-order, which should beget no more. 1682 Shadwell Medal 3 An old gelt Mastiff has more mirth than thou. 1789 G. White Selborne lxxiv, Gelt stags and bucks. 1800 Asiat. Ann. Reg., Misc. Tr. 145/2 Unless the favour of the deity..were conciliated by the sacrifice of a gelt goat and a cock. 1810 Provinc. Voc. Devon in Monthly Mag. XXIX. 466/2 Gelt bull, an ox, a bull-stag. |
▪ IV. gelt
obs. form of geld n., guilt.
▪ V. gelt
var. gilt, young sow.