gelding
/ˈɡɛldɪŋ/ noun
Also a form of geld
Forms geldings
Etymology
From Middle English geldyng (“eunuch”), from Old Norse geldingr (“wether, eunuch”), from gelda (“to castrate”). By surface analysis, geld (“to castrate”) + -ing (diminutive suffix).
From geld + -ing.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A castrated animal; --usually applied to a horse, but formerly used also of the human male.
- from Geld, v. t.
Etymology [Icel. gelding a gelding, akin to geldingr wether, eunuch, Sw. gälling gelding, Dan. gilding eunuch. See Geld, v. t.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “gelding”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details