gudgeon
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
A common gudgeon (Gobio gobio; etymology 1, sense 1).
A drawing of a spinycheek sleeper (Eleotris pisonis), often called a gudgeon (etymology 1, sense 2).
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɡʌdʒən/
Audio (RP) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɡʌdʒən/, /ˈɡʌjən/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ʌdʒən
- Hyphenation: gud‧geon
Etymology 1Edit
The noun is derived from Late Middle English gojoun [and other forms],[1] from Old French gojon, goujon (“gudgeon”), from Late Latin gōbiōnem, the accusative of gōbiō, the augmentative of Latin gōbius (“gudgeon”),[2] from Ancient Greek κωβῐός (kōbiós, “fish of the gudgeon kind”), probably of Semitic origin. The English word is a doublet of goby and goujon.
The verb is derived from the noun.[3]
NounEdit
gudgeon (plural gudgeons)
- A small freshwater fish, Gobio gobio, that is native to Eurasia.
- c. 1596–1598, W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, OCLC 24594216, [Act I, scene i]:
- [...] Ile tell thee more of this another time. / But fiſh not with this melancholy baite, / For this foole gudgin, this opinion: [...]
- 1663, [Samuel Butler], “The Second Part of Hudibras”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, OCLC 890163163; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge: University Press, 1905, OCLC 963614346, canto III, page 175:
- [...] Make Fools believe in their fore-seeing / Of things before they are in Being; / To swallow Gudgeons ere th' are catch'd, / And count their Chickens ere th' are hatch'd, [...]
- 1676, Izaak Walton, “[The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation: Part I […].] Observations of the Gudgeon, the Ruffe, and the Bleak, and How to Fish for Them.”, in Richard Le Gallienne, editor, The Compleat Angler, 5th edition, London; New York, N.Y.: John Lane, The Bodley Head, published 1897, OCLC 504457631, page 199:
- The Gudgeon is reputed a fish of excellent taste, and to be very wholesome: he is of a fine shape, of a silver colour, and beautified with black spots both on his body and tail.
- 1912, Fyodor Dostoevsky, “Why is such a Man Alive?”, in Constance Garnett, transl., The Brothers Karamazov: A Novel in Four Parts and an Epilogue [...] From the Russian, London: William Heinemann, OCLC 5234211; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1922, part I, book II (An Unfortunate Gathering), page 73:
- You save your souls here, eating cabbage, and think you are the righteous. You eat a gudgeon a day, and you think you bribe God with gudgeon.
- (Australia) Any of various similar small fish of the family Eleotridae, often used as bait.
- Synonym: sleeper goby
- 2012 October 5, Nicola Gage, “Murray Showing Signs of Recovery”, in ABC News[1], Sydney, N.S.W., archived from the original on 1 November 2019:
- The southern purple-spotted gudgeon [Mogurnda adspersa] can be hard to find. Although colourful, they are thin and only grow up to 12 centimetres.
- (figuratively, archaic) A person apt to take the bait; one easily cheated or duped; also, an idiot.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:dupe, Thesaurus:idiot
- 1713, Jonathan Swift, “Horace, Epistle VII. Book I. Imitated and Addressed to the Earl of Oxford, in the Year 1713”, in Miscellanies. The Last Volume, London: […] Benjamin Motte, […], published 1733, OCLC 22094470, lines 73–80, page 149:
- The Doctor now obeys the Summons, / Likes both his Company, and Commons; / Diſplays his Talent, ſits till Ten; / Next Day invited, comes again; / Soon grows Domeſtick, ſeldom fails, / Either at Morning, or at Meals; / Came early, and departed late: / In ſhort, the Gudgeon took the Bait.
- 1926, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Land of Mist[2]:
- "Is it not also known that you two innocents were doing the Churches week by week? Was it not patent that sooner or later you would come to a Spiritualist gathering? Here was a chance for a convert! They set a bait and poor old gudgeon Malone came along and swallowed it."
- 2004, Robert Jordan, “Making Use of Invisibility”, in New Spring, New York, N.Y.: Tor Books, Tom Doherty Associates, →ISBN, page 298:
- "Don't be a gudgeon," she grumbled, tugging at the dress much more fiercely than was necessary. "If this works as you say it will, nobody will notice me."
- (figuratively, archaic) Something used to lure or tempt; bait, a lure.
HyponymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
- sea gudgeon (obsolete)
TranslationsEdit
Gobio gobio
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person apt to take the bait; one easily cheated or duped — see dupe
idiot — see idiot
VerbEdit
gudgeon (third-person singular simple present gudgeons, present participle gudgeoning, simple past and past participle gudgeoned)
- (transitive, archaic) To deprive (someone) fraudulently; to cheat, to dupe.
- 1826, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, OCLC 991895633, page 106:
- I have seen when you were willing to tie his points or brush his cloak, or the like—and to be treated thus ungratefully—and gudgeoned of the opportunities which had been given you—
- (intransitive, archaic) To take the bait; to be defrauded or duped.
TranslationsEdit
to take the bait; to be defrauded or duped
Etymology 2Edit
From Middle English gojoun (“metal fitting with a ring at one end”) [and other forms],[4] from Old French goujon (“dowel; pin”) [and other forms], from gouge (“gouge (tool)”)[5] + -on (suffix forming diminutives). Gouge is derived from Late Latin gulbia, gubia (“chisel”), ultimately from Proto-Celtic *gulbā, *gulbīnos (“beak, bill”).
NounEdit
gudgeon (plural gudgeons)
- (also attributively) A circular or cylindrical fitting, often made of metal, into which a pin or pintle fits to create a hinge or pivoting joint.
- 1719 April 25, [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], 3rd edition, London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], published 1719, OCLC 838630407, pages 85–86:
- [A]s to a Wheel-barrow, I fancy'd I could make all but the Wheel; but that I had no Notion of, neither did I know how to go about it; beſides, I had no possible way to make the Iron Gudgeons for the Spindle or Axis of the Wheel to run in, ſo I gave it over; [...]
- (nautical, specifically) In a vessel with a stern-mounted rudder: the fitting into which the pintle of the rudder fits, allowing the rudder to swing freely.
- Synonym: brace
- 1792, William Bligh, chapter VII, in A Voyage to the South Sea, […] in His Majesty’s Ship The Bounty, […], London: […] George Nicol, […], OCLC 3363691, page 83:
- This afternoon the gudgeon of the rudder belonging to the large cutter, was drawn out and ſtolen, without being perceived by the man that was ſtationed to take care of her.
Alternative formsEdit
- (nautical): goodgeon (obsolete)
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
circular or cylindrical fitting
fitting into which the pintle of the rudder fits
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ReferencesEdit
- ^ “gojǒun, n.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ “gudgeon, n.1”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1900; “gudgeon1, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
- ^ “gudgeon, v.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1900.
- ^ “gojǒun, n.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ “gudgeon2, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present; compare “gudgeon, n.2”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1900.
Further readingEdit
gudgeon on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - gudgeon (fish) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
