goat

noun \ ˈgōt \

|Updated on: 12 Jul 2018

Definition of goat

plural goats

1 a or plural goat : any of various hollow-horned ruminant mammals (especially of the genus Capra) related to the sheep but of lighter build and with backwardly arching horns, a short tail, and usually straight hair; especially : one (Capra hircus) long domesticated for its milk, wool, and flesh

b capitalized : capricorn

2 : a licentious man : lecher

3 : scapegoat 2

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goatish

play \ˈgō-tish\ adjective

—

goatlike

play \ˈgōt-ˌlīk\ adjective

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Examples of goat in a Sentence

In the last inning, a home run can make you the hero, and a strikeout can make you the goat.
an unhappy childhood was the goat he used to rationalize every failure and shortcoming

Recent Examples of goat from the Web

And wolves sometimes do cause losses to ranchers: A 2015 look at wolf predation in three Rocky Mountain states said that wolves killed 967 animals — cattle, sheep, goats, llamas and horses — between 1989 and 2008.

— New York Times, "Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf Scientist?," 5 July 2018
According to a 1745 report, the mission maintained large herds of cattle, sheep, goats, horses and oxen, but early settlers complained that the animals were trampling their crops.

— joe holley, Houston Chronicle, "The remarkable Ana Maria Calvillo: She could ride, shoot, ranch and live in peace with the Indians," 29 June 2018
Nineteen comuneros try to grow wheat and raise sheep and goats on 2,800 hectares (7,000 acres) of semi-arid scrubland.

— The Economist, "The feisty fog-catchers of Chile," 14 June 2018
The ban pertains to industrially produced partially hydrogenated oils, not the naturally occurring trans fat that comes from animals such as cows, sheep and goats.

— shauna downs, Philly.com, "FDA's new ban on trans fats could prevent 20,000 heart attacks annually," 13 June 2018
These researchers assumed the Botai must have learned to handle horses from the Yamnaya, their neighbors to the west who were already herding sheep and goats.

— michael price, Science | AAAS, "These Asian hunter-gatherers may have been the first people to domesticate horses," 9 May 2018
Prions cause a variety of diseases in other animals, including Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (a prion disease in humans), scrapie (affecting sheep and goats), and chronic wasting disease (found in mule deer, elk, and reindeer).

— beth mole, Ars Technica, "Camels in Africa may have been quietly spreading prion disease for decades," 26 Apr. 2018
Its latest annual report to the USDA lists four sheep and 26 goats.

— sandi doughton, The Seattle Times, "Inspection finds ailing goats and sheep at Redmond research lab," 23 Apr. 2018
Eight-year-old Asifa was a member of a nomadic Muslim community that takes its sheep and goats to graze during the winter in a part of India's Jammu and Kashmir state that is dominated by Hindus, India's predominant religion.

— shashank bengali, latimes.com, "Why India's rape crisis is getting worse under Narendra Modi," 21 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'goat.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.