from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Go \Go\, v. i. [imp. {Went} (w[e^]nt); p. p. {Gone} (g[o^]n;
115); p. pr. & vb. n. {Going}. Went comes from the AS,
wendan. See {Wend}, v. i.] [OE. gan, gon, AS. g[=a]n, akin to
D. gaan, G. gehn, gehen, OHG. g[=e]n, g[=a]n, SW. g[*a], Dan.
gaae; cf. Gr. kicha`nai to reach, overtake, Skr. h[=a] to go,
AS. gangan, and E. gang. The past tense in AS., eode, is from
the root i to go, as is also Goth. iddja went. [root]47a. Cf.
{Gang}, v. i., {Wend}.]
1. To pass from one place to another; to be in motion; to be
in a state not motionless or at rest; to proceed; to
advance; to make progress; -- used, in various
applications, of the movement of both animate and
inanimate beings, by whatever means, and also of the
movements of the mind; also figuratively applied.
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2. To move upon the feet, or step by step; to walk; also, to
walk step by step, or leisurely.
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Note: In old writers go is much used as opposed to run, or
ride. "Whereso I go or ride." --Chaucer.
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You know that love
Will creep in service where it can not go.
--Shak.
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Thou must run to him; for thou hast staid so long
that going will scarce serve the turn. --Shak.
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He fell from running to going, and from going to
clambering upon his hands and his knees.
--Bunyan.
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Note: In Chaucer go is used frequently with the pronoun in
the objective used reflexively; as, he goeth him home.
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3. To be passed on fron one to another; to pass; to
circulate; hence, with for, to have currency; to be taken,
accepted, or regarded.
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The man went among men for an old man in the days of
Saul. --1 Sa. xvii.
12.
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[The money] should go according to its true value.
--Locke.
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4. To proceed or happen in a given manner; to fare; to move
on or be carried on; to have course; to come to an issue
or result; to succeed; to turn out.
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How goes the night, boy ? --Shak.
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I think, as the world goes, he was a good sort of
man enough. --Arbuthnot.
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Whether the cause goes for me or against me, you
must pay me the reward. --I Watts.
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5. To proceed or tend toward a result, consequence, or
product; to tend; to conduce; to be an ingredient; to
avail; to apply; to contribute; -- often with the
infinitive; as, this goes to show.
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Against right reason all your counsels go. --Dryden.
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To master the foul flend there goeth some complement
knowledge of theology. --Sir W.
Scott.
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6. To apply one's self; to set one's self; to undertake.
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Seeing himself confronted by so many, like a
resolute orator, he went not to denial, but to
justify his cruel falsehood. --Sir P.
Sidney.
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Note: Go, in this sense, is often used in the present
participle with the auxiliary verb to be, before an
infinitive, to express a future of intention, or to
denote design; as, I was going to say; I am going to
begin harvest.
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7. To proceed by a mental operation; to pass in mind or by an
act of the memory or imagination; -- generally with over
or through.
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By going over all these particulars, you may receive
some tolerable satisfaction about this great
subject. --South.
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8. To be with young; to be pregnant; to gestate.
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The fruit she goes with,
I pray for heartily, that it may find
Good time, and live. --Shak.
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9. To move from the person speaking, or from the point whence
the action is contemplated; to pass away; to leave; to
depart; -- in opposition to stay and come.
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I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the Lord
your God; . . . only ye shall not go very far away.
--Ex. viii.
28.
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10. To pass away; to depart forever; to be lost or ruined; to
perish; to decline; to decease; to die.
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By Saint George, he's gone!
That spear wound hath our master sped. --Sir W.
Scott.
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11. To reach; to extend; to lead; as, a line goes across the
street; his land goes to the river; this road goes to New
York.
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His amorous expressions go no further than virtue
may allow. --Dryden.
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12. To have recourse; to resort; as, to go to law.
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Note: Go is used, in combination with many prepositions and
adverbs, to denote motion of the kind indicated by the
preposition or adverb, in which, and not in the verb,
lies the principal force of the expression; as, to go
against to go into, to go out, to go aside, to go
astray, etc.
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{Go to}, come; move; go away; -- a phrase of exclamation,
serious or ironical.
{To go a-begging}, not to be in demand; to be undesired.
{To go about}.
(a) To set about; to enter upon a scheme of action; to
undertake. "They went about to slay him." --Acts ix.
29.
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They never go about . . . to hide or palliate
their vices. --Swift.
(b) (Naut.) To tack; to turn the head of a ship; to wear.
{To go abraod}.
(a) To go to a foreign country.
(b) To go out of doors.
(c) To become public; to be published or disclosed; to be
current.
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Then went this saying abroad among the
brethren. --John xxi.
23.
{To go against}.
(a) To march against; to attack.
(b) To be in opposition to; to be disagreeable to.
{To go ahead}.
(a) To go in advance.
(b) To go on; to make progress; to proceed.
{To go and come}. See {To come and go}, under {Come}.
{To go aside}.
(a) To withdraw; to retire.
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He . . . went aside privately into a desert
place. --Luke. ix.
10.
(b) To go from what is right; to err. --Num. v. 29.
{To go back on}.
(a) To retrace (one's path or footsteps).
(b) To abandon; to turn against; to betray. [Slang, U.
S.]
{To go below}
(Naut), to go below deck.
{To go between}, to interpose or mediate between; to be a
secret agent between parties; in a bad sense, to pander.
{To go beyond}. See under {Beyond}.
{To go by}, to pass away unnoticed; to omit.
{To go by the board} (Naut.), to fall or be carried
overboard; as, the mast went by the board.
{To go down}.
(a) To descend.
(b) To go below the horizon; as, the sun has gone down.
(c) To sink; to founder; -- said of ships, etc.
(d) To be swallowed; -- used literally or figuratively.
[Colloq.]
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Nothing so ridiculous, . . . but it goes down
whole with him for truth. --L' Estrange.
{To go far}.
(a) To go to a distance.
(b) To have much weight or influence.
{To go for}.
(a) To go in quest of.
(b) To represent; to pass for.
(c) To favor; to advocate.
(d) To attack; to assault. [Low]
(e) To sell for; to be parted with for (a price).
{To go for nothing}, to be parted with for no compensation or
result; to have no value, efficacy, or influence; to count
for nothing.
{To go forth}.
(a) To depart from a place.
(b) To be divulged or made generally known; to emanate.
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The law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of
the Lord from Jerusalem. --Micah iv. 2.
{To go hard with}, to trouble, pain, or endanger.
{To go in}, to engage in; to take part. [Colloq.]
{To go in and out}, to do the business of life; to live; to
have free access. --John x. 9.
{To go in for}. [Colloq.]
(a) To go for; to favor or advocate (a candidate, a
measure, etc.).
(b) To seek to acquire or attain to (wealth, honor,
preferment, etc.)
(c) To complete for (a reward, election, etc.).
(d) To make the object of one's labors, studies, etc.
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He was as ready to go in for statistics as for
anything else. --Dickens.
{To go in to} or {To go in unto}.
(a) To enter the presence of. --Esther iv. 16.
(b) To have sexual intercourse with. [Script.]
{To go into}.
(a) To speak of, investigate, or discuss (a question,
subject, etc.).
(b) To participate in (a war, a business, etc.).
{To go large}.
(Naut) See under {Large}.
{To go off}.
(a) To go away; to depart.
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The leaders . . . will not go off until they
hear you. --Shak.
(b) To cease; to intermit; as, this sickness went off.
(c) To die. --Shak.
(d) To explode or be discharged; -- said of gunpowder, of
a gun, a mine, etc.
(e) To find a purchaser; to be sold or disposed of.
(f) To pass off; to take place; to be accomplished.
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The wedding went off much as such affairs do.
--Mrs.
Caskell.
{To go on}.
(a) To proceed; to advance further; to continue; as, to
go on reading.
(b) To be put or drawn on; to fit over; as, the coat will
not go on.
{To go all fours}, to correspond exactly, point for point.
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It is not easy to make a simile go on all fours.
--Macaulay.
{To go out}.
(a) To issue forth from a place.
(b) To go abroad; to make an excursion or expedition.
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There are other men fitter to go out than I.
--Shak.
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What went ye out for to see ? --Matt. xi. 7,
8, 9.
(c) To become diffused, divulged, or spread abroad, as
news, fame etc.
(d) To expire; to die; to cease; to come to an end; as,
the light has gone out.
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Life itself goes out at thy displeasure.
--Addison.
{To go over}.
(a) To traverse; to cross, as a river, boundary, etc.; to
change sides.
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I must not go over Jordan. --Deut. iv.
22.
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Let me go over, and see the good land that is
beyond Jordan. --Deut. iii.
25.
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Ishmael . . . departed to go over to the
Ammonites. --Jer. xli.
10.
(b) To read, or study; to examine; to review; as, to go
over one's accounts.
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If we go over the laws of Christianity, we
shall find that . . . they enjoin the same
thing. --Tillotson.
(c) To transcend; to surpass.
(d) To be postponed; as, the bill went over for the
session.
(e) (Chem.) To be converted (into a specified substance
or material); as, monoclinic sulphur goes over into
orthorhombic, by standing; sucrose goes over into
dextrose and levulose.
{To go through}.
(a) To accomplish; as, to go through a work.
(b) To suffer; to endure to the end; as, to go through a
surgical operation or a tedious illness.
(c) To spend completely; to exhaust, as a fortune.
(d) To strip or despoil (one) of his property. [Slang]
(e) To botch or bungle a business. [Scot.]
{To go through with}, to perform, as a calculation, to the
end; to complete.
{To go to ground}.
(a) To escape into a hole; -- said of a hunted fox.
(b) To fall in battle.
{To go to naught} (Colloq.), to prove abortive, or
unavailling.
{To go under}.
(a) To set; -- said of the sun.
(b) To be known or recognized by (a name, title, etc.).
(c) To be overwhelmed, submerged, or defeated; to perish;
to succumb.
{To go up}, to come to nothing; to prove abortive; to fail.
[Slang]
{To go upon}, to act upon, as a foundation or hypothesis.
{To go with}.
(a) To accompany.
(b) To coincide or agree with.
(c) To suit; to harmonize with.
{To go well with}, {To go ill with}, {To go hard with}, to
affect (one) in such manner.
{To go without}, to be, or to remain, destitute of.
{To go wrong}.
(a) To take a wrong road or direction; to wander or
stray.
(b) To depart from virtue.
(c) To happen unfortunately; to unexpectedly cause a
mishap or failure.
(d) To miss success; to fail.
{To let go}, to allow to depart; to quit one's hold; to
release.
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