• God

    Pronunciation

    • enPR: gŏd
    • UK IPA: /É¡É’d/
    • Australia IPA: /É¡É”d/
    • US IPA: /ɡɑːd/
    • Rhymes: -É’d

    Origin

    From Middle English, from Old English god ("deity") (akin to Old High German got (a rank of deity)), originally neuter, then changed to masculine to reflect the change in religion to Christianity, both from the Proto-Germanic *gudą (compare Dutch god, German Gott, Danish gud), from the Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰuto- ("invoked (one)"), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰewH- ("to call, to invoke") or *ǵʰew- ("to pour"). Not related to the word good.

    Noun

    god

    (plural gods)
    1. A deity.
      1. A supernatural, typically immortal being with superior powers.
      2. A male deity.
        • 2002, Chuck Palahniuk, Lullaby:When ancient Greeks had a thought, it occurred to them as a god or goddess giving an order. Apollo was telling them to be brave. Athena was telling them to fall in love.
      3. A supreme being; God.The most frequently used name for the Islamic god is Allah.
      4. An idol.
        1. A representation of a deity, especially a statue or statuette.
        2. Something or someone particularly revered, worshipped, idealized, admired and/or followed.
          • Bible, Phil. iii. 19whose god is their belly
      5. (metaphor) A person in a high position of authority; a powerful ruler or tyrant.
      6. An exceedingly handsome man.Lounging on the beach were several Greek gods.
      7. (Internet) The person who owns and runs a multi-user dungeon.
        • 1996, Andy Eddy, Internet after hoursThe gods usually have several wizards, or "immortals," to assist them in building the MUD.
        • 2003, David Lojek, Emote to the Max (page 11)The wizzes are only the junior grade of the MUD illuminati. The people who attain the senior grade of MUD freemasonry by starting their own MUD, with all due hubris, are known as gods.

    Usage notes

    The word god is often applied both to males and to females. The word was originally neuter in Proto-Germanic; monotheistic – notably Judeo-Christian – usage completely shifted the gender to masculine, necessitating the development of a feminine form, goddess.

    Synonyms

    • (supernatural being with superior powers) deity, See also

    Derived terms

    terms derived from "god"These are not derived from the word "god"

    Related terms

    terms related to "god"

    Full definition of god

    Verb

    1. To idolize.
      • CORIOLANUS: This last old man,
        Whom with a crack'd heart I have sent to Rome,
        Loved me above the measure of a father;
        Nay, godded me, indeed.
      • a. 1866, Edward Bulwer Lytton, "Death and Sisyphus".To men the first necessity is gods;
        And if the gods were not,
        " Man would invent them, tho' they godded stones.
      • 2001, Conrad C. Fink, Sportswriting: The Lively Game, page 78"Godded him up" ... It's the fear of discerning journalists: Does coverage of athletic stars, on field and off, approach beatification of the living?
    2. to deify
      • 1595, Edmund Spenser, Colin Clouts Come Home Againe.Then got he bow and fhafts of gold and lead,
        In which fo fell and puiflant he grew,
        That Jove himfelfe his powre began to dread,
        And, taking up to heaven, him godded new.
      • 1951, Eric Voegelin, Dante Germino ed., The New Science of Politics: An Introduction (1987), page 125The superman marks the end of a road on which we find such figures as the "godded man" of English Reformation mystics
      • 1956, C. S. Lewis, Fritz Eichenberg, , page 241"She is so lately godded that she is still a rather poor goddess, Stranger.

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