GO, v.i. pret. went; pp. gone.

1. In a general sense, to move; to pass; to proceed from one place, state or station to another; opposed to resting. A mill goes by water or by steam; a ship goes at the rate of five knots an hour; a clock goes fast or slow; a horse goes lame; a fowl or a ball goes with velocity through the air. The mourners go about the streets. Eccles. xii.
2. To walk; to move on the feet or step by step. The child begins to go alone at a year old. You know that love / Will creep in service where it cannot go. Shak.
3. To walk leisurely; not to run. Thou must run to him; for thou hast staid so long that going will scarce serve the turn. Shak.
4. To travel; to journey by land or water. I must go to Boston. He has gone to Philadelphia. The minister is going to France.
5. To depart; to move from a place; opposed to come. The mail goes and comes every day, or twice a week. I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice. Ex. viii.
6. To proceed; to pass. And so the jest goes round. Dryden.
7. To move; to pass in any manner or to any end; as, to go to bed; to go to dinner; to go to war.
8. To move or pass customarily from place to place, denoting custom or practice. The child goes to school. A ship goes regularly to London. We go to church.
9. To proceed from one state or opinion to another; to change. He goes from one opinion to another. His estate is going to ruin.
10. To proceed in mental operations; to advance; to penetrate. We can go but a very little way in developing the causes of things.
11. To proceed or advance in accomplishing an end. This sum will not go far toward full payment of the debt.
12. To apply; to be applicable. The argument goes to this point only; it goes to prove too much.
13. To apply one's self. Seeing himself confronted by so many, like a resolute orator, he went not to denial, but to justify his cruel falsehood. Sidney.
14. To have recourse to; as, to go to law.
15. To be about to do; as, I was going to say. I am going to begin harvest. [This use is chiefly confined to the participle.]
16. To pass; to be accounted in value. All this goes for nothing. This coin goes for a crown.
17. To circulate; to pass in report. The story goes.
18. To pass; to be received; to be accounted or understood to be. And the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul. 1 Sam. xvii.
19. To move, or be in motion; as a machine. [See No. 1.]
20. To move as a fluid; to flow. The god I am, whose yellow water flows Around these fields, and fattens as it goes, Tiber my name. Dryden.
21. To have a tendency. Against right reason all your counsels go. Dryden.
22. To be in compact or partnership. They were to go equal shares in the booty. L'Estrange.
23. To be guided or regulated; to proceed by some principle or rule. We are to go by the rules of law, or according to the precepts of Scripture. We are to go by another measure. Sprat.
24. To be pregnant. The females of different animals go some a longer, some a shorter time.
25. To pass; to be alienated in payment or exchange. If our exports are of less value than our imports, our money must go to pay the balance.
26. To be loosed or released; to be freed from restraint. Let me go; let go the hand.
27. To be expended. His estate goes or has gone for spirituous liquors. [See No. 24.]
28. To extend; to reach. The line goes from one end to the other. His land goes to the bank of the Hudson.
29. To extend or lead in any direction. This road goes to Albany.
30. To proceed; to extend. This argument goes far toward proving the point. It goes a great way toward establishing the innocence of the accused.
31. To have effect; to extend in effect; to avail; to be of force or value. Money goes further now than it did during the war.
32. To extend in meaning or purport. His amorous expressions go no further than virtue may allow. Dryden. [In the three last examples, the sense of go depends on far, farther, further.]
33. To have a currency or use, as custom, opinion or manners. I think, as the world goes, be was a good sort of man enough. Arbuthnot.
34. To contribute; to conduce; to concur; to be an ingredient; with to or into. The substances which go into this composition. Many qualifications go to make up the well bred man.
35. To proceed; to be carried on. The business goes on well.
36. To proceed to final issue; to terminate; to succeed. Whether the cause goes for me or against me, you must pay me the reward. Watts.
37. To proceed in a train, or in consequences. How goes the night, boy? Shak.
38. To fare; to be in a good or ill state. How goes it, comrade?
39. To have a tendency or effect; to operate. These cases go to show that the court will vary the construction of instruments. Mass. Reports. To go about, to set one's self to a business; to attempt; to endeavor. They never go about to hide or palliate their vices. Swift. #2. In seamen's language, to tack; to turn the head of a ship. To go abroad, to walk out of a house. #2. To be uttered, disclosed or published. To go against, to invade; to march to attack. #2. To be in opposition; to be disagreeable. To go aside, to withdraw; to retire into a private situation. #2. To err; to deviate from the right way. To go astray, to wander; to break from an inclosure; also, to leave the right course; to depart from law or rule; to sin; to transgress. To go away, to depart; to go to a distance. To go between, to interpose; to mediate; to attempt to reconcile or to adjust differences. To go by, to pass near and beyond. #2. To pass away unnoticed; to omit. #3. To find or get in the conclusion. In argument with men, a woman ever / Goes by the worse, whatever be her cause. Milton. [A phrase now little used.] To go down, to descend in any manner. #2. To fail; to come to nothing. #3. To be swallowed or received, not rejected. The doctrine of the divine right of kings will not go down in this period of the world. To go for nothing, to have no meaning or efficacy. To go forth, to issue or depart out of a place. To go forward, to advance. To go hard with, to be in danger of a fatal issue; to have difficulty to escape. To go in, to enter. To go in to, to have sexual commerce with. Scripture. To go in and out, to do the business of life. #2. To go freely; to be at liberty. John x. To go off, to depart to a distance; to leave a place or station. #2. To die; to decease. #3. To be discharged, as fire-arms; to explode. To go on, to proceed; to advance forward. #2. To be put on, as a garment. The coat will not go on. To go out, to issue forth; to depart from. #2. To go on an expedition. Shak. #3. To become extinct, as light or life; to expire. A candle goes out; fire goes out. And life itself goes out at thy displeasure. Addison. #4. To become public. This story goes out to the world. To go over, to read; to peruse; to study. #2. To examine; to view or review; as, to go over an account. If we go over the laws of Christianity. Tillotson. #3. To think over; to proceed or pass in mental operation. #4. To change sides; to pass from one party to another. #5. To revolt. #6. To pass from one side to the other, as of a river. To go through, to pass in a substance; as, to go through water. #2. To execute; to accomplish; to perform thoroughly; to finish; as, to go through an undertaking. #3. To suffer; to bear; to undergo; to sustain to the end; as, to go through a long sickness; to go through an operation. To go through with, to execute effectually. To go under, to be talked of or known, as by a title or name; as, to go under the name of reformers. To go up, to ascend; to rise. To go upon, to proceed as on a foundation; to take as a principle supposed or settled; as, to go upon a supposition. To go with, to accompany; to pass with others. #2. To side with; to be in party or design with. To go ill with, to have ill fortune; not to prosper. To go well with, to have good fortune; to prosper. To go without, to be or remain destitute. Go to, come, move, begin; a phrase of exhortation; also a phrase of scornful exhortation.

1. Gone.
   
   
   Chaucer.
2. 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.
3. To take, as a share in an enterprise; to undertake or become responsible for; to bear a part in.
   
   

   They to go equal shares in the booty. L'Estrange.

4. Act; working; operation.
   
   
   [Obs.]

   So gracious were the goes of marriage. Marston.

5. Something that goes or is successful; a success; as, he made a go of it; also, an agreement.
   
   

   "Well," said Fleming, "is it a go?" Bret Harte.

6. To move upon the feet, or step by step; to walk; also, to walk step by step, or leisurely.
   
   

   * In old writers go is much used as opposed to run, or ride. "Whereso I go or ride." Chaucer.

   You know that love
   Will creep in service where it can not go. Shak.

   Thou must run to him; for thou hast staid so long that going will scarce serve the turn. Shak.

   He fell from running to going, and from going to clambering upon his hands and his knees. Bunyan.

   * In Chaucer go is used frequently with the pronoun in the objective used reflexively; as, he goeth him home.

7. To bet or wager; as, I'll go you a shilling.
   
   
   [Colloq.]

   To go halves, to share with another equally. -- To go it, to behave in a wild manner; to be uproarious; to carry on; also, to proceed; to make progress. [Colloq.] -- To go it alone (Card Playing), to play a hand without the assistance of one's partner. -- To go it blind. (a) To act in a rash, reckless, or headlong manner. [Slang] (b) (Card Playing) To bet without having examined the cards. -- To go one's way, to set forth; to depart.

8. A circumstance or occurrence; an incident.
   
   
   [Slang]

   This is a pretty go. Dickens.

9. To be passed on fron one to another; to pass; to circulate; hence, with for, to have currency; to be taken, accepted, or regarded.
   
   

   The man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul. 1 Sa. xvii. 12.

   [The money] should go according to its true value. Locke.

10. The fashion or mode; as, quite the go.
    
    
    [Colloq.]
11. 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.
    
    

    How goes the night, boy ? Shak.

    I think, as the world goes, he was a good sort of man enough. Arbuthnot.

    Whether the cause goes for me or against me, you must pay me the reward. I Watts.

12. Noisy merriment; as, a high go.
    
    
    [Colloq.]
13. 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.
    
    

    Against right reason all your counsels go. Dryden.

    To master the foul flend there goeth some complement knowledge of theology. Sir W. Scott.

14. A glass of spirits.
    
    
    [Slang]
15. To apply one's self; to set one's self; to undertake.
    
    

    Seeing himself confronted by so many, like a resolute orator, he went not to denial, but to justify his cruel falsehood. Sir P. Sidney.

    * 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.

16. Power of going or doing; energy; vitality; perseverance; push; as, there is no go in him.
    
    
    [Colloq.]
17. To proceed by a mental operation; to pass in mind or by an act of the memory or imagination; -- generally with over or through.
    
    

    By going over all these particulars, you may receive some tolerable satisfaction about this great subject. South.

18. That condition in the course of the game when a player can not lay down a card which will not carry the aggregate count above thirty-one.
    
    

    Great go, Little go, the final and the preliminary examinations for a degree. [Slang, Eng. Univ.] -- No go, a failure; a fiasco. [Slang] Thackeray. -- On the go, moving about; unsettled. [Colloq.]

19. To be with young; to be pregnant; to gestate.
    
    

    The fruit she goes with,
    I pray for heartily, that it may find
    Good time, and live. Shak.

20. 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.
    
    

    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.

21. To pass away; to depart forever; to be lost or ruined; to perish; to decline; to decease; to die.
    
    

    By Saint George, he's gone!
    That spear wound hath our master sped. Sir W. Scott.

22. 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.
    
    

    His amorous expressions go no further than virtue may allow. Dryden.

23. To have recourse; to resort; as, to go to law.
    
    

    * 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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.]

    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.

    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.

    He was as ready to go in for statistics as for anything else. Dickens.

    -- To go in to or 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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    There are other men fitter to go out than I. Shak.

    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.

    Life itself goes out at thy displeasure. Addison.

    -- To go over. (a) To traverse; to cross, as a river, boundary, etc.; to change sides.

    I must not go over Jordan. Deut. iv. 22.

    Let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan. Deut. iii. 25.

    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.

    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, ill, or 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. (d) To miss success. -- To let go, to allow to depart; to quit one's hold; to release.