gaud

From Middle English gaude, gawde (“jest, prank, trick; ornamental bead in a rosary, trinket, bauble”). Compare Middle English gaudy, gaudee, of the same meaning.

gaud (plural gauds)

1. a cheap showy trinket
   • Shakespeare

     an idle gaud

   • 1926, T. E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom

     Dalmeny lent me red tabs, Evans his brass hat; so that I had the gauds of my appointment in the ceremony of the Jaffa gate, which for me was the supreme moment of the war.

2. (obsolete) trick; jest; sport
3. (obsolete) deceit; fraud; artifice

• gaudy

gaud (third-person singular simple present gauds, present participle gauding, simple past and past participle gauded)

1. (obsolete) To bedeck gaudily; to decorate with gauds or showy trinkets or colours; to paint.
   • Shakespeare

     Nicely gauded cheeks.

Compare French se gaudir (“to rejoice”).

gaud (third-person singular simple present gauds, present participle gauding, simple past and past participle gauded)

1. To sport or keep festival.
   • Sir T. North

     gauding with his familiars

• Guad.

gaud

1. paddle; oar

gaud

1. paddle; oar