# Actual Freedom – Definitions

# Definitions ## Gamesmanship; Garrulous; Girdle/Ring-Barking ## Given; Gladsome; Gnome; Gnostic; Golly ## Grace; Graceless; Grand; Gratitude; Gratuitous ## Grossly; Groupthink; Guerdon; Guru; Gussy; Gynophobia Gamesmanship: gamesmanship (n.): 1. the use of aggressive or dubious tactics, such as psychological intimidation or disruption of concentration, to gain an advantage over one’s opponent while still observing the rules in a sport or game; 2. the use of expedients or morally questionable acts to gain an advantage, as in politics. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary). gamesmanship (n.): skill in using ploys [viz.: subterfuge] to gain a victory or advantage over another person. [from game¹ + sportsmanship]. ~ (Webster’ New World Dictionary). Garrulous: garrulous (adj.): 1. given to excessive and often trivial or rambling talk; tiresomely talkative; (adv.): garrulously; (n.): garrulousness. 2. wordy and rambling: a garrulous speech. [from Latin garrulus, from garrīre, ‘to chatter’]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary). Girdle/Ring-Barking: • girdle (n.): a band made around the trunk of a tree by the removal of a strip of bark; (tr.v.; girdled, girdling, girdles): to remove a band of bark and cambium from the circumference of (a tree), usually in order to kill it; see ring-barking, bark-ringing. [Middle English girdel, from Old English gyrdel]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary). • girdling, also called ring-barking, is the complete removal of the bark—consisting of the phellogen layer (aka cork cambium), the cambian layer, and the phloem layer (aka bast), and sometimes going into the xylem (the mineral salts-conducting and water-circulating vascular tissue)—from around the entire circumference of either the trunk or a branch of a woody plant; ring-barking results in the death of the area above the girdle over time; a branch completely girdled will fail and when the main trunk of a tree is girdled, the entire tree will die, if it cannot regrow sufficient to bridge the wound; foresters use the practice of girdling to thin forests and animals such as rodents will girdle trees by feeding on outer bark, often during winter under snow; ring-barking can also be caused by herbivorous mammals feeding on plant bark and by birds and insects, both of which can effectively girdle a tree by boring rows of adjacent holes. [word history: the practice of ring-barking has been known in Europe for some time; another example is the girdling of selective Douglas-fir trees in some Northern California oak woodlands in order to prevent those firs from massive invasion of the mixed oak woodland]. ~ (2023 Wikipedia Encyclopaedia). Given: given (n.): an established fact, condition, factor, etc. ~ (Webster’s College Dictionary). Gladsome: • gladsomely (adv.): with joy; with pleasure of mind. ~ (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary). • gladsomely (adv.; archaic): gladly (viz.: 1. in a glad manner; happily; 2. willingly; certainly; “Would you like a beer?” “Gladly, thank you”); [e.g.]: “The Advent bells are ringing in many parishes throughout various parts of England during this month of December, if I may judge from my own neighbourhood—on the western borders of Berks—where, at least three times in the week, I hear their merry peals break gladsomely upon the dark stillness of these cold evenings, from many a steeple around”. (from “Notes and Queries”, by Various, No. 08; December 22, 1849); “But she was dressed in breeches and a slouch hat, a cigarette hung from the corner of her mouth, and she beckoned April gladsomely with an immense cowthong whip”. (from “Blue Aloes; Stories of South Africa”, Cynthia Stockley; 1919). [etymology: from gladsome +‎ -ly]. ~ (Word-Sense Online Dictionary). • gladsomely (adv.): joyfully or cheerfully; in a gladsome way (viz.: giving or causing joy; delightful); [e.g.]: “A jolly group of songsters gladsomely carolling in the city’s historic district”. ~ (Farlex Partner Dictionary). • gladsomely (adv.): in a gladsome manner; with joy; with pleasure (John Wycliffe, 1328-1384); (lexicographer’s notes): gladsomely is less often used of a weak feeling than gladly; it generally stands for a feeling which is strong but tranquil, and showing itself chiefly in the face; hence it is often used poetically of certain aspects of nature; joyfully is more vivid and demonstrative; this distinction between gladsomely and joyfully is abundantly illustrated in biblical passages; pleasurably is the most general of these words, representing all degrees of feeling, and harmful indulgence as well as harmless enjoyment; in its primary sense it indicates a feeling less distinctively cheerful than gladsomely and less profound or demonstrative than joyfully, but with much of glow; delightfully is a high degree of pleasure; formerly the word was much used for low pleasure, but it has been redeemed so that it is now rarely used for anything but an ecstatic pleasure on joy; triumphally is often used for joy over success, especially joy in victory⁽*⁾; all these words may express malign feelings, as joy in the adversities of a rival, except gladsomely which, generally, expresses a pure and worthy feeling. [from Middle English gladsumli, from gladsome + -ly]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). ⁽*⁾triumphally (adv.): in a triumphal manner (viz.: 1. of, relating to, or being a triumph; 2. celebrating or commemorating a triumph or victory). [etymology: from triumphal +‎ -ly]. ~ (Wiktionary English Dictionary). • gladsome (adj.): 1.; rare): open; clear; [e.g.]: “[Anise] in gladsom ayer | And comyn sowe hem now ther is theire leire”. (Palladius, “Husbondrie”; Early English Text Society), p. 114); 2. glad; joyful; cheerful; [e.g.]: “The gladsome ghosts in circling troops attend, | And with unweary’d eyes behold their friend, | Delight to hover near, and long to know | What bus’ness brought him to the realms below”. (John Dryden; 1631-1700, “The Works of Virgil”, translation; ‘The Sixth Book of The Aeneis’); “It [charity] beholdeth him to prosper and flourish, to grow in wealth and repute, not only without envious repining, but with gladsome content”. (Isaac Barrow, “Theological Works”, I. xxii.); 3. making glad; causing joy, pleasure, or cheerfulness; pleasing; [e.g.]: “Each morn they wak’d me with a sprightly lay; Of opening heaven they sung, and gladsome day”. (Matthew Prior, 1664-1721, “Poetical Works”, Vol. II.; 1835, ‘Solomon on the Vanity of the World’, Book II: ‘On Pleasure’, p. 124). [from Middle English gladsum, gladsom (= Old Danish gladsom); from glad + -some]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • gladsomeness (n.): the state of being gladsome; joy; pleasure; [e.g.]: “My pastime past, my youthlike yeres are gone; | My monthes of mirth, my glistring days of gladsomeness. | My times of triumph turned into mone, | Unhappy I am unless I find release”. (Vncertaine Auctors, “The Louer Complaineth the Loss of his Lady”, etc., page 593, Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, Or, Universal Dictionary of Knowledge, edited by Rev. Edward Smedley, Rev. Hugh James Rose, Rev. Henry John Rose; Vol. Six; 1845, B. Fellowes, London). [from Middle English gladsumnesse, from gladsome + -ness]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • gladship (n.; rare): gladness; joy; [e.g.]: “Such is the gladship of Envie | In worldes thing, and in partie”. (John Gower, “Confessio Amantis”, ii.). [from Middle English gladshipe, gladschipe, gladscipe, Anglo-Saxon *glædscipe, gledscipe, Old Northern glædscip, ‘joy’, from glæd, ‘glad’ + -scipe, ‘-ship’]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • gladly (adv.): 1. with gladness or pleasure; joyfully; cheerfully; [e.g.]: “Thei drynken gladlyest mannes Blood, the whiche thei clepen Dieu”. (Sir John Mandeville, “Mandeville’s Travels”, p. 195); “For I haue seyn hym in sylke and somme tyme in russet, | Bothe in grey and in grys and in gulte herneys, | And as gladlich he it gaf to gomes that it neded”. (“Piers Plowman”; B, xv. 216); “The common people heard him gladly”. (Mark xii. 37); 2. (rare): by preference; by choice; [e.g.]: “Al this was gladly in the evetyde”. (Geoffery Chaucer, “Good Women”, 1. 770). [from Middle English gladly, gladliche (cf. Icelandic gledhiligr = Old Danish glaedelig, adjective, ‘joyful’), from Anglo-Saxon glædlice, ‘gladly’ (cf. glædlic, ‘bright’, from glæd, ‘glad’; see glad]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • gladly (adv.; gladlier or more gladly, gladliest or most gladly): 1. in a glad manner; happily; [e.g.]: “As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish, but I would not go out of my way to protest against it. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get. I would very gladly make mine over to him if I could”. (from Chapter One, in “Gossamer”, George A. Birmingham (pseudonym of James Owen Hannay): 1915, George H. Doran Company, New York, N.Y.); “Find me a job and I’ll gladly go to work”. (page 44, Chapter Four, in “Share House Blues”, Joan Morrison; 1985, Boolarong Publications); 2. willingly; certainly; [e.g.]: “‘Would you like a beer?’–‘Gladly, thank you’”; (derived terms): suffer fools gladly (viz.: as opposed to the ‘nobody’s fool’ expression; to be tolerant of stupidity or incompetence in other people; idiomatic, chiefly in the negative; as in, “for ye suffer fooles gladly” (Cor 11:19; KJV; 1611), and as by George Bernard Shaw (in his Preface to “Pygmalion”; 1912), “he would not suffer fools gladly”). [etymology: from Middle English gladly, gladliche, from Old English glædlīċe, ‘gladly’; equivalent to glad +‎ -ly; cf. Danish glædelig, ‘joyful’, Icelandic gleðilegur, ‘delightful’; more at glad, and -ly]. ~ (Word-Sense Online Dictionary). Random Literary Samples. • “The Advent bells are ringing in many parishes throughout various parts of England during this month of December, if I may judge from my own neighbourhood—on the western borders of Berks—where, at least three times in the week, I hear their merry peals break *gladsomely* upon the dark stillness of these cold evenings, from many a steeple around”. [emphasis added]. ~ (from ‘The Advent Bells’, by Cephus, in “Notes and Queries”, Number 08; Various, December 22, 1849). • “‘Similar thoughts has smote my colossal intellect, Butch!’ responded the bean-pole Hicks, *gladsomely*. ‘But—why seek to overshadow this joyous scene with sombre reflections?’”. [emphasis added]. ~ (from Chapter Seventeen: ‘Hicks’ Makes A Rash Prophecy’, in “Thomas Haviland Hicks Senior”, by James Raymond Elderdice; 1916). • “The Bannister Band, that famous campus musical organisation, following a time-honored habit of playing on every possible occasion, *gladsomely* tuned up and soon the noise was deafening, while study-hour, as prescribed by the Faculty, was forgotten”. [emphasis added]. ~ (from Chapter Three: ‘Hicks’ Prodigious Prodigy’, in “Thomas Haviland Hicks Senior”, by James Raymond Elderdice; 1916). • “‘Oh, just leave it to Hicks!’ quoth he, *gladsomely*. ‘I told you I’d win my three B’s, Butch, old top, and—ow!—unhand me, you villain, you hurt!’”. [emphasis added]. ~ (from Chapter Nineteen: ‘Bannister Gives Hicks a Surprise Party’, in “Thomas Haviland Hicks Senior”, by James Raymond Elderdice; 1916). • “The peasants looked out upon the world from beneath their brows, as their cottages from beneath the pines; and they lived *gladsomely* as they should”. [emphasis added]. ~ (page 89, Crossways, in “Tales of the Wilderness”, by Boris Pilniak; 1915). • “Shall I in Walhalla be greeted *gladsomely* by a woman?”. [emphasis added]. ~ (page 93, ‘The Valkyrie’, Part Two, in “The Wagnerian Romances, Gertrude Hall Brownell; 1912). • “Scarcely have they had time to alight and seek out quarters than the little man makes his appearance at my menzil door in all the glory of a crimson velvet dressing-cap and blue slippers, and beaming *gladsomely* through his moon-like spectacles, he comes forward and without further ceremony shakes hands”. [emphasis added]. ~ (from Chapter Five: ‘Meshed The Holy’ in “Around the World on a Bicycle”, Vol. II; ‘From Teheran To Yokohama’, by Thomas Stevens; 1894). • “The hill road was both stony and difficult, but Winsome’s light feet went along it easily and lightly. On not a single stone did she stumble. She walked so *gladsomely* that she trod on the air”. [emphasis added]. ~ (from Chapter Thirty: ‘The Hill Gate’, in “The Lilac Sunbonnet” (1887), by Samuel Rutherford Crockett, 1860-1914; Doubleday & McClure Co., New York; 1899). • “The animals run more swiftly, birds fly more quickly and sing more merrily, and plants put forth their leaves and flowers most *gladsomely*. Without inspiration our souls would lead an idle, sluggish and fruitless life, but on receiving the divine rays of inspiration we are sensible of a light mingled with a quickening heat, which illuminates our understanding, and which excites and animates our will, giving it the strength to will and effect the good which is necessary for eternal salvation”. [emphasis added]. ~ (page 350, Chapter Ten, in “Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis of Sales, 1567-1622). • “But she was dressed in breeches and a slouch hat, a cigarette hung from the corner of her mouth, and she beckoned April *gladsomely* with an immense cowthong whip”. [emphasis added]. ~ (from “Blue Aloes; Stories of South Africa”, Cynthia Stockley; 1919). (left-clicking the yellow rectangles with the capital ‘U’ opens each in a new web page). Gnome: • gnome (n.): 1. a brief reflection or maxim; an aphorism, a saying; a saw; gnomish (a.): gnome-like; gnomist & gnomologist (n.): a gnomic poet; a writer of proverbs and apothegms [=apophthegms; terse, witty, instructive sayings; short cryptic remarks containing some general or generally accepted truths]. [fr. Late Latin gnome, ‘a sentence, maxim’, fr. Gr. gnome, ‘thought, judgement, intelligence’, ‘a thought, a judgement, an opinion, a maxim’, fr. gignoskein=Latin noscere, ‘know’=Eng. ‘know’]. ~ (Century Dictionary). • gnome (n.): 1. [...]. 2. a pithy saying that expresses a general truth or fundamental principle; an aphorism. [Greek gnome, fr. gignoskein, ‘to know’]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary). • gnome (n.): 1. [...]. 2. a short pithy saying or maxim expressing a general truth or principle. ~ (Collins Dictionary). • gnome (n.): 1. [...]. 2. a short, pithy expression of a general truth; aphorism. [1570-80; fr. Greek gnome, ‘judgment, opinion, purpose’]. ~ (Webster’s College Dictionary). • gnome (n.): 1. [...]. 2. a short pithy saying expressing a general truth; a saying that is widely accepted on its own merits; axiom, maxim. ~ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0). Gnome: • gnome (n.): a pithy saying which expresses a general truth or fundamental principle; an aphorism. [Greek gnōmē, from gignōskein, ‘to know’]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary). • gnome¹ (n.): a brief reflection or maxim; an aphorism; a saying; a saw; [e.g.]: “They [Mr. Lowell’s English admirers] have most of them a certain acquaintance, not with his works—for in that respect a hackneyed gnome or two of Bird-o’-freedum Sawin’s constitutes their whole equipment—but with the high estimate in which he is held by all competent English critics”. (“Fortnightly Review”, quoted in “Littell’s Living Age”, 1844-1941, ᴄʟxᴠɪ. 283); “Looking at His method or style, we find that not a little of His teaching was in gnomes, or brief, pointed sentences, easy to be remembered”. (George Park Fisher, 827-1909, “The Beginnings of Christianity”, 1911, p. 456); (synonym): see aphorism. [from Late Latin gnome, ‘a sentence’, ‘maxim’, from Greek γνώμη, ‘thought’, ‘judgment’, ‘intelligence’, ‘a thought’, ‘a judgment’, ‘an opinion’, ‘a maxim’, from γιγνώσκειν, γνῶναι = Latin noscere, ‘know’, English know; see know¹]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • gnome (n.): a short pithy saying or maxim expressing a general truth or principle. [C16: from Greek gnōmē, from gignōskein, ‘to know’]. ~ (Collins English Dictionary). • gnome (n.): a short, pithy expression of a general truth; aphorism. [1570-80; from Greek gnṓmē, ‘judgment’, ‘opinion’, ‘purpose’]. ~ (Webster’s College Dictionary). • gnome (n.): a short pithy saying expressing a general truth; (synonyms): axiom, maxim (a saying that is widely accepted on its own merits); Murphy’s Law, Sod’s Law (humorous axiom stating how anything which can go wrong will go wrong). ~ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0). • gnome: a moral admonition set in verse or rhythmical prose; the gnome was used primarily in Eastern (Oriental) literatures—ancient Hebrew, Indian, Arabic, and Persian—and were popular in ancient Greece, especially in elegiac poetry, in the form of distichs or hexameters; Homer interspersed gnomes throughout his epics; Hesiod also wrote them; an unusually large number are included in a collection attributed to Theognis of Megara; in the literature of ancient Rome the dicta of Publilius Syrus and the so-called Dicta Catonis may be regarded as gnomes. ~ (The Great Soviet Encyclopaedia, 3rd Edition; 1970-1979). • gnomic¹ (adj.): 1. containing or dealing in maxims; sententious; [e.g.]: “John Heywood’s lines are often as happy as those above (viz.: ‘and when ye have gone as far as ye can, for all your labour and gostely entente; ye will come home as wyse as ye wente’); he had all the power of condensing and pointing expression which might be looked for in an epigrammatist; and there is a really gnomic force in the use to which he puts his power in the few serious words at the close of this interlude”. (Adolphus William Ward, “A History of English Dramatic Literature to the Death of Queen Anne”, 1875, Vol. I. 136); “The sententious, satiric song, to be met with in the 14th, 58th, and 82d Psalms, this Ewald calls gnomic poetry”. (George Gilfillan, “The Bards of the Bible”, p. 68); “The Ballad of Arabella is one of those familiar pieces of satire indulged in more frequently by newspaper wags than by gnomic poets”. (North American Review, ᴄxxᴠɪ. 181); 2. (in grammar): used in maxims or general statements; applied to express a universal truth; as, a gnomic aorist. [from Greek γνωμικός, ‘dealing in maxims’, ‘sententious’, from γνώμη, ‘a maxim’; see gnome¹]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • gnomical¹ (adj.): same as gnomic¹ (i.e., containing or dealing in maxims; sententious; used in maxims or general statements; applied to express a universal truth; as, a gnomic aorist). [from gnomic + -al]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • gnomically (adv.): in a sententious manner; sententiously. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • gnomological (adj.): same as gnomologic. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • gnomologic (adj.): of or pertaining to gnomology. [from Greek γνωμολογικός, ‘sententious’, from γνωμολογία, ‘a speaking in maxims’; see gnomology]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • gnomology (n.; rare): a collection of or treatise on maxims or sententious and pithy reflections. [from Greek γνωμολογία, ‘a speaking in maxims’, ‘a collection of maxims’, from γνώμη, ‘a maxim’, + λογία, from λογία, ‘speak’; see -ology]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • gnomist (n.): a gnomic poet; a writer of proverbs and apothegms. [from gnome + -ist]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • gnomide (n.): a female gnome; see gnome², 1 (i.e., gnomes are a race of imaginary beings, first conceived as spirits of the earth, inhabiting its interior and that of everything earthly, animal, vegetable, or mineral; the gnomes ultimately came to be regarded as the special guardians of mines and miners, malicious in all other relations, and extremely ugly and misshapen; while the females of the race, called gnomides, not more than a foot high, were endowed with supreme beauty and goodness, and, being the special guardians of diamonds, were chiefly known in the countries which produced them; (adj.) gnomed: haunted or inhabited by gnomes). ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • gnomish (adj.): gnome-like; as, gnomish faces. [from gnome + -ish¹]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). Gnostic: gnostic = of, relating to, or possessing arcane wisdom and/or esoteric knowledge of mystico-spiritual matters. Golly: golly: used to express mild surprise or wonder. (American Heritage Dictionary). Grace: grace (tr.v.; graced, gracing, graces): 1. to honour or favour; [e.g.]: “You grace our table with your presence”; 2. to give beauty, elegance, or charm to; 3. (music): to embellish with grace notes. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin grātia, from grātus, ‘pleasing’]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary). Graceless: • graceless (adj.): having or exhibiting no sense of propriety or decency. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary). • graceless (adj.): 1. {inferior or clumsy in treatment or performance}; (synonyms): inelegant, forced, awkward, clumsy, ungainly; [e.g.]: “She performed a graceless pirouette”; 2. {lacking grace, pleasing elegance, or charm}; (synonyms): shameless, crude, rude, coarse, vulgar, rough, improper, unsophisticated, ill-mannered, gauche, barbarous, boorish, gawky, uncouth, loutish, indecorous, unmannerly; [e.g.]: “She couldn’t stand his blunt, graceless manner”. [curly-bracketed insert added] ~ (Collins English Dictionary). Grand: ‘grand’: (etymology): great, pre-eminent, principal; from Latin ‘grandis’: full-grown, abundant. Oxford Dictionary. Gratitude: Gratitude (n.): a feeling of thankfulness or appreciation, as for gifts or favours. [C16: from Medieval Latin grātitūdō, from Latin grātus, ‘grateful’].~ (Collins English Dictionary). Gratuitous: gratuitous: uncalled for, unwarranted, unjustifiable; done or acting without a good or assignable reason; motiveless. (Oxford Dictionary). Grossly: grossly: excessively; glaringly, flagrantly; to a shocking degree. (Oxford Dictionary Groupthink: groupthink (n.): the tendency of a decision-making group to strive for consensus and to avoid critical examination of alternatives. [1950-55]. ~ (Webster’s College Dictionary). Guerdon: • guerdon (n): 1. a reward, recompense, or requital; (tr.v.): 2. to give a guerdon to; reward. [1325-75; from Old French, variant of werdoun, from Medieval Latin widerdonum, alteration (probably by association with Latin dōnum, gift) of Old High German widarlōn]. ~ (Webster’s College Dictionary)./p> • guerdon (n): a reward; recompense; (tr.v.; guerdoned, guerdoning, guerdons): to reward. [Middle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin widerdōnum, alteration (influenced by Latin dōnum, ‘gift’) of Old High German widarlōn, from widar, ‘back’, ‘against’ + lōn, ‘reward’]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary). • guerdon (n): a reward or payment; (tr.v.): to give a guerdon to; (n): guerdoner. [C14: from Old French gueredon, of Germanic origin; cf. Old High German widarlōn, Old English witherlēan; final element influenced by Latin dōnum, ‘gift’]. ~ (Collins English Dictionary). • guerdon (n): a reward or payment; (related word): reward (payment made in return for a service rendered). ~ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0). • guerdon (n): 1. something given in return for a service or accomplishment; (synonyms): accolade, award, honorarium, plum, premium, prize, reward; (idiom): token of appreciation; 2. something justly deserved; (synonyms): comeuppance, due, recompense, reward; (often used in plural): desert, wage; (informal; used in plural): lump; (idioms): what is coming to one, what one has coming; (v.): to bestow a reward on; (synonyms): reward. ~ (The American Heritage Roget’s Thesaurus). • guerdon (n): reward; requital; recompense; in a good or bad sense; (tr.v.): to reward. ~ (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary). • guerdon (n): 1. a reward; requital; recompense; used in both a good and a bad sense; [e.g.]: “So young as to regard men’s frown or smile | As loss or guerdon of a glorious lot”. (Byron); “He shall, by thy revenging hand, at once receive the just guerdon of all his former villainies”. (Knolles); (tr.v.): to give guerdon to; to reward; to be a recompense for; [e.g.]: “Him we gave a costly bribe | To guerdon silence”. (Tennyson). ~ (Webster’s 1913 Dictionary). • guerdon (n): reward; recompense; (tr.v.): guerdon; (adj.): guerdonless (viz.: receiving no guerdon; Middle English gwerdounles, from guerdoun, guerdon + -les, ‘-less’). [etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French guerdun, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German widarlōn, ‘reward’; first known use: fourteenth century, in the meaning defined above; (word history): the word “guerdon” dates back to the fourteenth century, when Geoffrey Chaucer used it in “The Romaunt of the Rose” (circa 1366): “He quitte him wel his guerdon there”; it derives from Anglo-French and is thought to be related to the Old High German widarlōn, meaning ‘reward’; Shakespeare used “guerdon” a couple of times in his plays; in “Love’s Labour’s Lost”, for example, Berowne, attendant to King Ferdinand, sends the clown Costard to deliver a letter to Rosaline, attendant to the princess of France, handing him a shilling with the line, “There’s thy guerdon; go”; it is a rare word today, but contemporary writers do use it on occasion for poetic effect]. ~ (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). • guerdon (n): reward, recompense (now only poetic), late fourteenth century, from Old French guerdon, guerredon, ‘reward’, ‘recompense’, ‘payment’, from Medieval Latin widerdonum, from Old High German widarlon, ‘recompense’, from widar, ‘against’, from Proto-Germanic *withro- + lon, ‘reward’, from Proto-Germanic *launam, from PIE *lau-, ‘gain’, ‘profit’; cf. Old English wiðerlean, ‘requital’, ‘compensation’; form influenced in Medieval Latin by Latin donum, ‘gift’; cf. Spanish galardon, Italian guiderone. ~ (Online Etymology Dictionary). • guerdon (n): a reward; requital; recompense; [e.g.]: “Gifene us gersoms and golde, and gardwynes many”. (from “Morte Arthure”; English Early Text Society, 1. 1729); “For recompence hereof I shall | You well reward, and golden guerdon give”. (Edmund Spenser, “Faerie Queene”, VI. ix. 32); “Death, in guerdon of her wrongs, | Gives her fame which never dies”. (Shakespeare, “Much Ado About Nothing”, v. 3); “To be a knight companion of Spain’s proudest order of chivalry was the guerdon ... which Spain’s monarch promised the murderer, if he should succeed”. (John Lothrop Motley, “Rise of the Dutch Republic”, III. 544). [from Middle English guerdon, guerdoun, gardone, gardwyne, etc., from Old French guerdon, guerredon, guarredon, guierdon, guirdon, werdon, etc. = Provinçal guierdon = Italian guidardone, guiderdone, from Medieval Latin widerdonum, ‘a reward’; ‘an ingenious alteration’, simulating Latin donum, ‘a gift’, of the expected *widerlonum, from Old High German widarlōn (=Anglo-Saxon witherleán), ‘a reward’, from widar (=Anglo-Saxon wither), ‘against’, ‘back again’ (see witherham), + lōn (=Anglo-Saxon leán), ‘reward’]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • guerdon (tr.v.): to give a guerdon to; reward; [e.g.]: “It is good to serue suche a lorde as gardonethe his seruaunt in suche wise”. (from “Book of the Knight of La Tour Landry”, p. 4); “My lord protector will, I doubt it not, | See you well guerdon’d for these good deserts”. (Shakespeare, “2 Henry VI.”, i. 4); “Him we gave a costly bribe | To guerdon silence”. (Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “The Princess, 1847, i). [from Middle English guerdonen, guerdounen, gardonen, from Old French guerdonner, guerredoner, guerdoner, werdoner, etc. = Provinçal guiardoner = Italian guidardonare, guiderdonare; from the noun]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • guerdonable (adj.): worthy of guerdon or reward; [e.g.]: “Finding it as well guerdonable, as grateful, to publish their libels”. (Sir George Buck, 1560-1622, “The History of the life and reign of Richard III.”, p. 75). [from Old French guerrdonnable, guerredonable, from guerdonner, ‘reward’; see guerdon, verb, and -able]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • guerdonless (adj.): without reward; [e.g.]: “But love alas quyte him so his wage | With cruel daunger pleynly at the laste | That with the dethe guerdonlesse he paste”. (John Lydgate, “Complaint of the Black Knight”, April 4, 1508, 1. 399). [from Middle English guerdonlesse; from guerdon + -less]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). Random Literary Sample • “The gods were wroth at so presumptuous an offer, but when they would have indignantly driven the stranger from their presence, Loki urged them to make a bargain which it would be impossible for the stranger to keep, and so they finally told the architect that the *guerdon* should be his, provided the fortress were finished in the course of a single winter, and that he accomplished the work with no other assistance than that of his horse Svadilfare”. [emphasis added]. ~ (page 221, Chapter Twenty-Two: ‘Loki, The Giant Architect’, in “Myths of the Norsemen from the Eddas and Sagas”, by Hélène Adeline Guerber; 1909, George G. Harrap & Company, London). Guru: Guru: a (Hindu) spiritual teacher. (Oxford Dictionary) A Gussied Up Real-World Caring: • gussy (tr.v.; gussied, gussying, gussies; slang): to dress or decorate elaborately; adorn or embellish; [e.g.]: “gussied herself up in sequins and feathers”. [origin: perhaps from Australian slang gussie, ‘an effeminate man’, from Gussie, diminutive of the personal name ‘Augustus’]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary). Gynophobia: gynophobia (n.): a dread or hatred of women. ~ (Collins English Dictionary). RETURN TO DEFINITIONS INDEX RICHARD’S HOME PAGE The Third Alternative (Peace On Earth In This Life Time As This Flesh And Blood Body) Here is an actual freedom from the Human Condition, surpassing Spiritual Enlightenment and any other Altered State Of Consciousness, and challenging all philosophy, psychiatry, metaphysics (including quantum physics with its mystic cosmogony), anthropology, sociology ... and any religion along with its paranormal theology. Discarding all of the beliefs that have held humankind in thralldom for aeons, the way has now been discovered that cuts through the ‘Tried and True’ and enables anyone to be, for the first time, a fully free and autonomous individual living in utter peace and tranquillity, beholden to no-one. Richard's Text ©The Actual Freedom Trust: 1997- . All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer and Use Restrictions and Guarantee of Authenticity