From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English gode, from Old English gād (“goad”), from Proto-Germanic *gaidō (compare Old Norse gedda (“pike (fish)”), Lombardic gaida (“spear”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰey- (compare Old Irish gath (“spear”), Sanskrit हिन्वति (hinvati), हिनोति (hinoti, “to urge on, throw”), हेति (heti, “missile, projectile”)). Doublet of gad and yard; see also xyston.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɡəʊd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɡoʊd/
• Homophone: goed
• Rhymes: -əʊd

goad (plural goads)

1. A long, pointed stick used to prod animals.

   • 1856 December, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Samuel Johnson”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC:

     the daily goad urging him to the daily toil

2. (figurative) That which goads or incites; a stimulus.

   • 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter IV, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 51:

     I might have been an unfortunate little bull in a Spanish arena, I got so smartingly touched up by these moral goads.

goad (third-person singular simple present goads, present participle goading, simple past and past participle goaded)

1. To prod with a goad.
2. To encourage or stimulate.

   Synonyms: bield, embolden, hearten

3. To incite or provoke.

   Synonyms: actuate, spur; see also Thesaurus:incite

   goading a boy to fight

• goat

• Goda, dago, doga

From Old English god, of Germanic origin.

goad (plural goads)

1. God

goad

1. past participle of goa