Etymology 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.
1
A long, pointed stick used to prod animals.
the daily goad urging him to the daily toil1856 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:
2
Figuratively That which goads or incites; a stimulus.
I might have been an unfortunate little bull in a Spanish arena, I got so smartingly touched up by these moral goads.1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter IV, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 51:
Etymology 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.