gadling

Meaning

Noun

• A companion in arms, fellow, comrade.
• A roving vagabond; one who roams
• A man of humble condition; a fellow; a low fellow; lowborn; originally comrade or companion, in a good sense, but later used in reproach
• A spike on a gauntlet; a gad.

Origin

• From Middle English gadling ("companion in arms; man, fellow; a person of low birth; rascal, scoundrel; bastard; base, lowborn"), gadeling, from Old English geaduling, gædeling, from Proto-West Germanic *gaduling, from Proto-Germanic *gadulingaz, *gadilingaz, equivalent to gad + -ling. Related to Old English gāda ("comrade, companion").