The meaning of the word "goat" in its literal sense is known and understandable, perhaps, to every person. But it turns out that this is not the end of the matter. "Goat" is a word that also has many other interpretations. It is used, for example, as swearing, as slang, as an aviation term. Consider the shades of its meanings in more detail.
The ambiguity of the term
Dictionaries have many meanings of the word "goat." These include such as:
- Horned male domestic or wild ruminant, which belongs to the class of mammals and the family of bovids. (Sasha found in the encyclopedia information that the Siberian mountain goat is the main prey for leopards).
- In sports, a gymnastic apparatus used to perform a vault, different from a horse in that it is shorter in length and lacks handles. (Andrei was very disappointed - at the gym class he was again unable to jump over the goat).
- In metallurgy - the name of the frozen iron, which remained on the walls of the blast furnace. (The master explained to the students: “It is not surprising that after thirty years of work in the furnace of a blast furnace over time, an accumulation of 300 tons was formed, and it is called a goat.”

- In aviation, a term similar to "kidding," which means the jump of an airplane during its landing. (Despite the pilot's experience during landing, it was still not possible to avoid a high-speed goat).
- One of the chemical-technological terms that are used in the description of defects formed in the production of cast plexiglas is similar to the term "fish eye". (Unfortunately, the last batch of Plexiglas was not without a goat).
- One of the options for the symbols of Satan in devilry. (The guy had a tattoo on his left forearm depicting Baphomet, who is the official symbol of the Church of Satan, which is popularly called the goat).
However, the polysemy of the word under consideration does not end there. But it is already in a slightly different area than the ones discussed above - this is the "colloquial genre" and jargon.
Male talk
Among other meanings, "goats" appear before us in the following guises:
- In a figurative sense, this is a swear word, which means a dull, mean and very unpleasant person. (Marina admonished her son in a stern voice: “Remember, Yura, even if a person is not pleasant to you, did something bad to you - this is not a reason to go down to his level and call him a goat.”
- So they call the Soviet car with increased cross-country ability GAZ-69, as well as UAZ-469. (Finally, the necessary advertisement in the newspaper was found: “I am selling the frame for the GAZ-69 (goat), we will agree on the price”).
- The name of the game in dominoes, as well as cards. (An article on the Internet said that learning to play a goat in dominoes is not so difficult as it might seem at first glance).
- The name of the person who lost in the specified game. (Sergey was already tired of staying in the goats, and he decided to quit playing dominoes for today).
In plural
When this word is used in the plural - "goats", it also means the following:
- The front of the horse-drawn carriage on which the coachman is seated. (“Sanya, let's stay awake, move, sit on the goats faster, otherwise we'll be late,” the lady ruined).
- A construction tool used while working at low altitude. (“Guys, you’re more careful there on the goats, the height is still rather big,” the elderly foreman cautiously advised the builders).
- The device used when sawing firewood. (Having spread the firewood on the goats and busily rubbing his hands, the squat peasant prepared to prepare firewood for the winter).
- A device that is used when driving on roads that do not have hard surface. (On country roads, rolls are used to drive livestock, called "goats").
Phraseologisms
Here are examples of phraseological units and stable phrases with the word under study:
- High-speed (non-speed) goat - in aviation, an airplane jumps during an approach approach at an increased (reduced or normal) speed.
- To stand on a goat is a colloquial, slang expression, indicating the raising of the front wheels of a vehicle - a car, bicycle, motorcycle.
- To tear a goat - in vernacular singing ineptly, in an unpleasant voice.
- Hammering a goat is a slang expression about playing dominoes.
- Like a goat’s milk, it’s a saying that indicates the insufficiency of the benefits and bestowal.
- Local goat is a technical term that denotes a partial collapse that occurred in the reactor core.
- Letting a goat into the garden is a saying hinting that it is undesirable to allow a person to go where he can act in his own selfish interests.
- Construction goat - see above.
Scapegoat
Consider the separately used expression "scapegoat", the meaning of which, however, is not clear to everyone. This phrase, taken from the Old Testament, implies that in this case the goat is a special animal. After a symbolic Jewish rite, during which the sins of the whole people were blamed on him, they took him to the desert.
Among Christian theologians, for example, John the Baptist, one can find an interpretation of this phrase as a prototype of the self-sacrifice of Jesus Christ, called the Lamb of God and taking on all the sins of the world voluntarily. Today they say so about a man whom they want to make guilty without guilt.