Definition of "good"

(of people or animals)

1. Acting in the interest of what is beneficial, ethical, or moral.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • It is not good to be alone, / to walk here in this worthely woneIt is not good to be alone, to walk here in this noble world

     15th c., “[The Creation]”, in Wakefield Mystery Plays; Re-edited in George England, Alfred W. Pollard, editors, The Towneley Plays (Early English Text Society Extra Series; LXXI), London: […] Oxford University Press, 1897, page 6, lines 184–185

   • If any man would begin his sins to reny, or any good people that frae vice deed rest ain. What so ever he were that to virtue would apply, But an ill tongue will all overthrow again.

     1500?, Evil Tonguesː

   • When we are happy, we are always good, but when we are good, we are not always happy.

     1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter 6, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London, New York, N.Y., Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co.

2. Competent or talented.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Flatter him it may, I confess, (as those are generally good at flattering who are good for nothing else,) but in the meantime the poor man is left under the fatal necessity of a needless delusion

     1704, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached on Several Occasions, On the nature and measure of conscience

   • Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house ; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something ; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.

     1922, Michael Arlen, “3/19/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days

   • And Marsha says I am a good cook! Audio (US)(file)

     2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

3. Able to be depended on for the discharge of obligations incurred; of unimpaired credit; used with for.  examples

4. Well-behaved (especially of children or animals).  examples

5. (US) Satisfied or at ease; not requiring more.  examples

6. (colloquial, with with) Accepting of, OK with  examples

7. (archaic) Of high rank or birth.  quotations

   Quotations

   • Thou art a Traitor, and a Miſcreant;Too good to be ſo, and too bad to liue,Since the more faire and chriſtall is the skie,The vglier ſeeme the cloudes that in it flye:

     1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i], page 23, columns 1–2

(of capabilities)

1. Useful for a particular purpose; functional.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Against cough and scarceness of breath caused of cold take the drink that it hath been sodden in with Liquorice[,] or that the powder hath been sodden in with dry figs[,] for the same the electuary called dyacalamentum is good[,] and it is made thus.

     1526, Herballː

   • Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, […]. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better. These rarities may be new mutations, or they can be existing ones that are neutral—or are even selected against—in a wild population. A good example is mutations that disrupt seed dispersal, leaving the seeds on the heads long after they are ripe.

     2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3

2. Effective.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.

     1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], page 0091

3. (obsolete) Real; actual; serious.  quotations

   Quotations

   • Love no man in good earnest.

     c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii]

(properties and qualities)

1. (of food)

   1. Having a particularly pleasant taste.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • Soupes dorye. — Take gode almaunde mylke […] caste þher-to Safroun an Salt […]

        c. 1430 (reprinted 1888), Thomas Austin, ed., Two Fifteenth-century Cookery-books. Harleian ms. 279 (ab. 1430), & Harl. ms. 4016 (ab. 1450), with Extracts from Ashmole ms. 1429, Laud ms. 553, & Douce ms. 55 [Early English Text Society, Original Series; 91], London: N. Trübner & Co. for the Early English Text Society, volume I, OCLC 374760, page 11

      • dorrẹ̅, dōrī adj. & n. […] cook. glazed with a yellow substance; pome(s ~, sopes ~. […] 1381 Pegge Cook. Recipes page 114: For to make Soupys dorry. Nym onyons […] Nym wyn […] toste wyte bred and do yt in dischis, and god Almande mylk.

        1962 (quoting 1381 text), Hans Kurath & Sherman M. Kuhn, eds., Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, ISBN 978-0-472-01044-8, page 1242

   2. Being satisfying; meeting dietary requirements.  examples

2. Of food or other perishable products, still fit for use; not yet expired, stale, rotten, etc.  examples

3. Valid, of worth, capable of being honoured.  examples

4. True, valid, of explanatory strength.  examples

5. Healthful.  examples

6. Pleasant; enjoyable.  examples

7. Favourable.  examples

8. Unblemished; honourable.  examples

9. Beneficial; worthwhile.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. […] Next day she […] tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head. Then, thwarted, the wretched creature went to the police for help; she was versed in the law, and had perhaps spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.

     1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company

10. Adequate; sufficient; not fallacious.  quotations  examples

    Quotations

    • My reasons are both good and weighty.

      c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i]

    • Twinnia biclavata differs from T. nova by inversion IS-1 and a nucleolar shift. Both are good species.

      1966, K. Rothfels, Margaret Freeman, “The salivary gland chromosomes of three North American species of Twinnia (Diptera: Simuliidae)”, in Canadian Journal of Zoology, volume 44, number 5

(colloquial, when with and) Very, extremely. See good and.  examples

(colloquial) Ready  examples

Holy (especially when capitalized) .  examples

(of quantities)

1. Reasonable in amount.  examples

2. Large in amount or size.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • The big houses, and there are a good many of them, lie for the most part in what may be called by courtesy the valleys. You catch a glimpse of them sometimes at a little distance from the [railway] line, which seems to have shown some ingenuity in avoiding them, […].

     1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter III, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919

3. Full; entire; at least as much as.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. No omnibus, cab, or conveyance ever built could contain a young man in such a rage. His mother lived at Pembridge Square, which is four good measured miles from Lincoln's Inn.

     1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], page 16

That is good; an elliptical exclamation of satisfaction or commendation.  examples

(nonstandard) Well; satisfactorily or thoroughly.  quotations

(uncountable) The forces or behaviours that are the enemy of evil. Usually consists of helping others and general benevolence.  quotations  examples

(countable) A result that is positive in the view of the speaker.  examples

(uncountable) The abstract instantiation of goodness; that which possesses desirable qualities, promotes success, welfare, or happiness, is serviceable, fit, excellent, kind, benevolent, etc.  quotations  examples

(countable, usually in the plural) An item of merchandise.  quotations  examples

(intransitive, now) To thrive; fatten; prosper; improve.  examples

(transitive) To make good; turn to good; improve.  examples

(intransitive) To make improvements or repairs.  examples

(intransitive) To benefit; gain.  examples

(transitive) To do good to (someone); benefit; cause to improve or gain.  examples

(transitive) To satisfy; indulge; gratify.  examples

(reflexive) To flatter; congratulate oneself; anticipate.  examples

(transitive, now chiefly dialectal, Scotland) To furnish with dung; manure; fatten with manure; fertilise.  quotations  examples