goal

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a successful attempt at scoring

   the winning goal came with less than a minute left to play

2. 2
   noun

   A result that one is attempting to achieve.

   My lifelong goal is to get into a Hollywood movie.

3. 3
   noun

   In many sports, an area into which the players attempt to put an object.

   The racers are approaching the goal.

4. 4
   noun

   The act of placing the object into the goal.

   miss a goal

5. 5
   noun

   A point scored in a game as a result of placing the object into the goal.

   score a goal

6. 6
   noun

   game equipment consisting of the place toward which players of a game try to advance a ball or puck in order to score points

7. 7
   noun

   the state of affairs that a plan is intended to achieve and that (when achieved) terminates behavior intended to achieve it

8. 8
   noun

   the place designated as the end (as of a race or journey)

Etymology

From Middle English gol (“boundary, limit”), from Old English *gāl (“obstacle, barrier, marker”), from Proto-West Germanic *gailu, from Proto-Germanic *gailō (“crevice, gap”); compare the Old English's derivatives Old English gǣlan (“to hinder, delay”), and hyġegǣls (“hesitating, slow, sluggish”), hyġegǣlsa (“slow one, sluggish one”). Possibly cognate with Lithuanian gãlas (“end”), Latvian gals (“end”), Old Prussian gallan (“death”), Albanian ngalem (“to be limping, lame, paralyzed”), ngel (“to remain, linger, hesitate, get stuck”).