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Gossip A tattler; a sponsor at baptism, a corruption of gossib, which is Godsib, a kinsman in the Lord.
(Sib, gesib, Anglo-Saxon, kinsman, whence Sibman, he is our sib, still used.)
"Tis not a maid, for she hath had gossips [sponsors for her child]: yet `tis a maid, for she is her master's
servant, and serves for wages." - Shakespeare: Two Gentlemen of Verona, iii.1. Gossip. A father confessor,
of a good, easy, jovial frame.
"Here, Andrew, carry this to my gossip, jolly father Boniface, the monk of St. Martin's" - Sir Walter Scott: Quentin
Durward. Gossypia The cotton-plant personified.
"The nymph Gossypia heads the velvet sod,
And warms with rosy smiles the watery god."
Darwin: Loves
of the Plants, canto ii. Got the Mitten Jilted; got his dismissal. The word is from the Latin mitto, to dismiss.
"There is a young lady I have set my heart on; though whether she is agoin' to give me hern, or give
me the mitten, I ain't quite satisfied." - Sam Slick: Human Nature, p.90. Gotch A large stone jug with a
handle (Norfolk). Fetch the gotch, mor - i.e. fetch the great water-jug, lassie.
"A gotch of milk I've been to fill."
Bloomfield: Richard and Kate. Goth Icelandic, got (a horseman); whence
Woden - i.e. Gothen.
"The Goths were divided by the Dnieper into East Goths (Ostrogoths), and West Goths (Visigoths), and
were the most cultured of the German peoples." - Baring-Gould: Story of Germany, p.37. Last of the
Goths. Roderick, the thirty-fourth of the Visigothic line of kings (414-711). (See Roderick.)
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