god

Etymology

From Middle English god, from Old English god, originally neuter, then changed to masculine to reflect the change in religion to Christianity, from Proto-West Germanic *god n, from Proto-Germanic *gudą, from *ǵʰutóm, neuter/inanimate of Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰutós (“invoked (one)”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰewH- (“to call, to invoke”) or *ǵʰew- (“to pour”). Not related to the word good or Persian خدا (xodâ, “god”). Cognates include Russian звать (zvatʹ, “to call”), Sanskrit होत्र (hotra, “calling, oblation, sacrifice”) and Latin fūtilis (“easily pours out, leaky”) (whence English futile). Doublet of futile.

noun

1. A deity or supreme being; a supernatural, typically immortal, being with superior powers, to which personhood is attributed.
   The most frequently used name for the Islamic god is Allah.
   When ancient Greeks had a thought, it occurred to them as a god or goddess giving an order. Apollo was telling them to be brave. Athena was telling them to fall in love. 2002, Chuck Palahniuk, Lullaby
2. Alternative letter-case form of God.
3. An idol.
   1. A representation of a deity, especially a statue or statuette.
   2. Something or someone particularly revered, worshipped, idealized, admired and/or followed.
4. (figurative, slang) A person who is exceptionally skilled in a particular activity.
   He is the god of soccer!
5. (figurative) A person in a high position of authority, importance or influence.
6. (figurative) A powerful ruler or tyrant.
7. (colloquial) An exceedingly handsome man.
   Lounging on the beach were several Greek gods.
   Someone had said he'd look a god in kilts. a. 1918, Wilfred Owen, Disabled
8. (Internet, roleplaying games) The person who owns and runs a multi-user dungeon.
   The gods usually have several wizards, or "immortals," to assist them in building the MUD. 1996, Andy Eddy, Internet after hours
   The wizzes are only the junior grade of the MUD illuminati. The people who attain the senior grade of MUD freemasonry by starting their own MUD, with all due hubris, are known as gods. 2003, David Lojek, Emote to the Max, page 11

verb

1. (transitive) To idolize.
   CORIOLANUS: This last old man, / Whom with a crack'd heart I have sent to Rome, / Loved me above the measure of a father; / Nay, godded me, indeed. 1608, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Coriolanus, act V, scene III
   a. 1866, Edward Bulwer Lytton, "Death and Sisyphus". To men the first necessity is gods; / And if the gods were not, / " Man would invent them, tho' they godded stones.
   "Godded him up" ... It's the fear of discerning journalists: Does coverage of athletic stars, on field and off, approach beatification of the living? 2001, Conrad C. Fink, Sportswriting: The Lively Game, page 78
2. (transitive) To deify.
   Then got he bow and fhafts of gold and lead, / In which fo fell and puiflant he grew, / That Jove himfelfe his powre began to dread, / And, taking up to heaven, him godded new. 1595, Edmund Spenser, Colin Clouts Come Home Againe
   The superman marks the end of a road on which we find such figures as the "godded man" of English Reformation mystics 1951, Eric Voegelin, Dante Germino ed., The New Science of Politics: An Introduction, published 1987, page 125
   "She is so lately godded that she is still a rather poor goddess, Stranger. 1956, C. S. Lewis, Fritz Eichenberg, Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold, page 241