gaidgaden.
Scottish. Obsolete exc. Historical.
1. A bar of metal; esp. the iron bar which formerly crossed the condemned cell in a Scottish prison, upon which ran the iron ring which fastened the shackles.
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society > authority > subjection > restraint or restraining > restraint depriving of liberty > binding or fettering > [noun] > post or bar for shackling to
gaid?a1500
rackc1503
?a1500 Rowlis Cursing 263 Lyk to ane gaid of yrne or steill That doun war sinkand in ane weell.
1629 in R. Pitcairn Criminal Trials Scotl. I. 68* (note) They instantlie wardit him, and patt baith his feitt on the gade.
1647 in W. Cramond Ann. Banff (1891) I. 92 He is decerned to plenish the gaid Sufficientlie with seaven sufficient shakellis.
1829 W. Scott Guy Mannering (new ed.) II. xxviii. 359 (note) When a man received sentence of death, he was put upon the Gad, as it was called, that is, secured to the bar of iron in the manner mentioned in the text.]
2. = goad n.1
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1724 P. Walker Some Remarkable Passages Life A. Peden 52 Their Theats will burn, and their Swingle-trees will fall to the Ground..and the Gade-men will throw away their Gades.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.?a1500