Pushing or urging someone to do something, often by annoying or provoking them repeatedly.
From Old English 'gad' meaning a pointed stick or goad, plus the -ing suffix. The verb evolved from the literal act of poking cattle with a stick to the metaphorical sense of urging someone forward through irritation.
This word beautifully shows how farm tools became metaphors for human behavior—just like goading cattle with a stick gradually means needling someone into action, many of our emotional words come from physical farming practices.
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