goat
- 1Any of the hoofed mammals that make up the genus Capra.
The town hired a herd of goats to clear the weeds from the steep hillside.
A wild goat picked its way along the narrow cliff ledge.
- 2Acronym of greatest of all time: the greatest performer ever in a field, especially a sport.
Whatever you think of his attitude, he's the GOAT of tennis, and the trophies prove it.
Putting two GOATs in one locker room is a lot of ego for any coach to manage.
UsageUsually the GOAT, often followed by of: the GOAT of tennis. In formal writing, consider spelling out greatest of all time.
Note
Because it is an acronym rather than a string of letters, it is said exactly like the animal, and the capitals show which goat is meant.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- GOAT is an acronym of greatest of all time. en.wiktionary.org
- 3The meat of a goat, used as food.
The restaurant's curried goat sells out every Friday night.
Slow-cooked goat falls off the bone after a few hours in the pot.
UsageUsed without a, like chicken or lamb: curried goat, more goat.
Note
In Jesmyn Ward's Where the Line Bleeds (2008), Joshua remembers goat as a stringy dark meat, until Paul's long cooking makes it melt like candy.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Jesmyn Ward wrote Where the Line Bleeds, first published in 2008. en.wikipedia.org
- Joshua remembers stringy dark goat meat; Paul's prolonged cooking makes it melt like candy. en.wiktionary.org
- 4A person who is blamed or mocked for a failure or loss; the loser or scapegoat.
After his error in the ninth inning, the shortstop was the goat of the night.
In a playoff series, a single fumble can turn a hero into a goat.
UsageSet against hero: the goat of the game. Outside sport, scapegoat is the safer word.
Oppositehero
Note
Sports pages are its home: the goat of a game is the player blamed for the loss, as Fernando Rodney was after a 10th-inning defeat by Tampa Bay in 2008. Writers like to set it against hero, since one bad play can turn the hero of a series into its goat.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Fernando Rodney was described as the goat following the loss. en.wiktionary.org
- The defeat against Tampa Bay occurred in the tenth inning in 2008. en.wikipedia.org
Less common meanings
- 5A man who shows excessive and offensive sexual desire.
The dirty old goat at the end of the bar wouldn't stop leering at the servers.
At the reunion he kept leering at women half his age, and his ex-wife muttered that he was still a dirty old goat.
UsageMost often a dirty old goat; far too harsh for a harmless flirt.
Note
The insult trades on the animal's old reputation for lust, the same idea behind Shakespeare's goatish and the later simile horny as a goat.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The insult draws on the goat's traditional association with lust. en.wikisource.org
- Shakespeare used goatish with reference to sexual desire; the speaker is Edmund in King Lear. folger.edu
- 6The eighth of the twelve animals in the repeating twelve-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac, which is tied to the Chinese calendar.
The restaurant's placemat listed the years of the Goat alongside those of the other eleven animals.
The Lunar New Year parade featured a giant paper Goat to welcome the new year.
SimilarRam
- 7To single someone out to take the blame for a failure or loss.
John Rocker, meanwhile, was spared from getting goated because he didn't blow a save
2001, “A worthy Rusch to judgment”, in USA TodayNote
The get passive suits this verb, since the goated player is the one being talked about: USA Today wrote in 2001 that John Rocker "was spared from getting goated because he didn't blow a save." It keeps the sports-page setting of the blamed-player noun.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- USA Today published the cited example in 2001. en.wiktionary.org
- The quotation concerns John Rocker and reproduces the cited wording exactly. en.wiktionary.org
- 8To let goats feed on something, such as a pasture or the plants on a piece of land.
- 9A car of the Pontiac GTO model.
- 10A person whose speech a speech recognition system has trouble understanding, in contrast to a sheep, whose speech it handles well.
- 11In roller derby, a blocker who is isolated behind the opposing team's blockers, a tactic used to slow down the pack.
- 12In roller derby, to isolate an opposing blocker behind one's own blockers in order to slow down the pack.
- 13A member of the “government of all the talents” that the British prime minister Gordon Brown proposed.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English goot, from Old English gāt, from Proto-West Germanic *gait and Proto-Germanic *gaits, probably from an earlier substrate language. The sense "lecherous man", recorded since Shakespeare's time, draws on the animal's reputation for lust.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Goat descends from Middle English goot and Old English gāt. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English gāt descends from Proto-West Germanic *gait and Proto-Germanic *gaits. en.wiktionary.org