Adjacent Words

Gudgeon definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

GUD'GEON, n. gud'jin. A small fish of the genus Cyprinus, a fish easily caught, and hence,
1. A person easily cheated or ensnared.
2. A bait; allurement; something to be caught to a man's disadvantage.
3. An iron pin on which a wheel turns.
Sea-gudgeon, the black goby or rock fish.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: small spiny-finned fish of coastal or brackish waters having a large head and elongated tapering body having the ventral fins modified as a sucker [syn: goby, gudgeon]
2: small slender European freshwater fish often used as bait by anglers [syn: gudgeon, Gobio gobio]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English gojoun, from Middle French goujon Date: 15th century 1. pivot 1, journal 2. a socket for a rudder pintle II. noun Etymology: Middle English gojune, from Anglo-French gojoun, from Latin gobion-, gobio, alteration of gobius — more at goby Date: 15th century a small European freshwater fish (Gobio gobio) related to the carps and often used for food or bait

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. 1 a small European freshwater fish, Gobio gobio, often used as bait. 2 a credulous or easily fooled person. Etymology: ME f. OF goujon f. L gobio -onis GOBY 2. n. 1 any of various kinds of pivot working a wheel, bell, etc. 2 the tubular part of a hinge into which the pin fits to effect the joint. 3 a socket at the stern of a boat, into which a rudder is fitted. 4 a pin holding two blocks of stone etc. together. Phrases and idioms: gudgeon-pin (in an internal-combustion engine) a pin holding a piston-rod and a connecting-rod together. Etymology: ME f. OF goujon dimin. of gouge GOUGE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Gudgeon Gud"geon, n. [OE. gojon, F. goujon, from L. gobio, or gob, Gr. ? Cf. 1st Goby. ] 1. (Zo["o]l.) A small European freshwater fish (Gobio fluviatilis), allied to the carp. It is easily caught and often used for food and for bait. In America the killifishes or minnows are often called gudgeons. 2. What may be got without skill or merit. Fish not, with this melancholy bait, For this fool gudgeon, this opinion. --Shak. 3. A person easily duped or cheated. --Swift. 4. (Mach.) The pin of iron fastened in the end of a wooden shaft or axle, on which it turns; formerly, any journal, or pivot, or bearing, as the pintle and eye of a hinge, but esp. the end journal of a horizontal. 6. (Naut.) A metal eye or socket attached to the sternpost to receive the pintle of the rudder. Ball gudgeon. See under Ball.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Gudgeon Gud"geon, v. t. To deprive fraudulently; to cheat; to dupe; to impose upon. [R.] To be gudgeoned of the opportunities which had been given you. --Sir IV. Scott.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

One easily imposed on. To gudgeon; to swallow the bait, or fall into a trap: from the fish of that name, which is easily taken.

Moby Thesaurus

arbor, axis, axle, axle bar, axle shaft, axle spindle, axle-tree, babe, boob, chump, cinch, credulous person, cull, distaff, dupe, easy mark, easy pickings, fall guy, fish, fool, fulcrum, gimbal, gobe-mouches, greener, greenhorn, greeny, gull, hinge, hingle, hub, innocent, leadpipe cinch, mandrel, monkey, nave, oarlock, patsy, pigeon, pin, pintle, pivot, plaything, pole, prize sap, pushover, radiant, rowlock, sap, saphead, schlemiel, sitting duck, spindle, stooge, sucker, swivel, toy, trunnion, trusting soul, victim