went

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went

(wĕnt)

Past tense of go¹.

[Middle English, from Old English wende, past tense and past participle of wendan, to go.]

Word History: Why do we say went and not goed? Go has always had an unusual past tense, formed from a completely different root from its present tense. The replacement within a series of inflected forms of one form by a completely unrelated form is called suppletion. (Another, even more extreme, example of suppletion in English is found in the paradigm be, am, are, was, whose forms are originally from four different verbal roots.) The past tense of go in Old English was ēode, formed from an unrelated root that has no other verb forms in English. Its modern replacement, went, derives from old forms of the modern verb wend. In Middle English the original past tense and past participle of wenden, "to go, turn," were wended and wend, respectively. The forms wente and went appeared around 1200 and gradually displaced the older wended and wend. The new past tense wente also took on a new use as the past tense of go, replacing ēode. By the beginning of the Modern English period, around 1500, went was no longer used in any other way and was therefore felt to be the normal past tense of go; at the same time, wend acquired the new form wended for its past tense and past participle, meaning "turned."

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

went

(wɛnt)

the past tense of go¹

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

went

(wɛnt)

v.

1. pt. of go ¹ .

2. Archaic. a pt. and pp. of wend.

Translations

andai

go

(gəu) – 3rd person singular present tense goes: past tense went (went) : past participle gone (gon) – verb

1. to walk, travel, move etc. He is going across the field; Go straight ahead; When did he go out?

2. to be sent, passed on etc. Complaints have to go through the proper channels.

3. to be given, sold etc. The prize goes to John Smith; The table went for $100.

4. to lead to. Where does this road go?

5. to visit, to attend. He goes to school every day; I decided not to go to the movie.

6. to be destroyed etc. This wall will have to go.

7. to proceed, be done. The meeting went very well.

8. to move away. I think it is time you were going.

9. to disappear. My purse has gone!

10. to do (some action or activity). I'm going for a walk; I'm going hiking next week-end.

11. to fail etc. I think the clutch on this car has gone.

12. to be working etc. I don't think that clock is going.

13. to become. These apples have gone bad.

14. to be. Many people in the world regularly go hungry.

15. to be put. Spoons go in that drawer.

16. to pass. Time goes quickly when you are enjoying yourself.

17. to be used. All her pocket-money goes on sweets.

18. to be acceptable etc. Anything goes in this office.

19. to make a particular noise. Dogs go woof, not miaow.

20. to have a particular tune etc. How does that song go?

21. to become successful etc. She always makes a party go.

noun – plural goes –

1. an attempt. I'm not sure how to do it, but I'll have a go.

2. energy. She's full of go.

ˈgoing noun

1. an act of leaving, moving away etc. the comings and goings of the people in the street.

2. the conditions under which something is done. Walking was heavy going because of all the mud.

adjective

1. successful. That shop is still a going concern.

2. in existence at present. the going rate for typing manuscripts.

ˈgo-ahead adjective

successful and progressive. His firm is very go-ahead.

noun

permission. We'll start as soon as we get the go-ahead.

ˌgo-ˈgetter noun

a person with a great deal of energy, ability etc who gets what he wants.

ˌgoing-ˈover noun

a study or examination. He gave the accounts a thorough going-over.

ˌgoings-ˈon noun plural

(usually strange) happenings or behaviour.

ˌno-ˈgo adjective

(of a district etc) which a person etc is not allowed to enter. a no-go area.

all go adjective

very busy. It's all go in this office today.

be going on (for)

to be near or close to (a time, age etc). He must be going on (for) eighty.

be going strong

to be successful, healthy etc. Our business/grandfather is still going strong.

from the word go

from the very beginning.

get going

to get started. If you want to finish that job you'd better get going.

give the go-by

to ignore in an unfriendly way. I think we'll give all his stupid suggestions the go-by.

go about

1. to (begin to) work at. I don't know the best way to go about the job!

2. (of a ship) to change direction or turn around.

go after

1. to try to win. He's going after that prize.

2. to follow or chase. Go after him and apologize.

go against

1. to oppose or refuse to act on. A child should never go against his parents' wishes.

2. to be unacceptable to. This goes against my conscience.

go along

1. to go. I think I'll go along to that meeting.

2. to proceed or progress. Check your work as you go along.

go along with

to agree with. I'm afraid I can't go along with you on that.

go around

(of stories, rumours etc) to be passed from one person to another. There's a rumour going around that you are leaving.

go around with

to be friendly with. I don't like the group of friends you're going around with.

go at

1. to attack. The little boys went at each other with their fists.

2. to do with enthusiasm. He really went at the job of painting the wall.

go back

to return to an earlier time, topic of conversation etc. Let's go back for a minute to what we were talking about earlier.

go back on

to fail to do (something one has promised to do). I never go back on my promises.

go by

1. to base an opinion on. We can't go by what he says.

2. to be guided by. I always go by the instructions.

go down

1. (with well/badly) to be approved or disapproved of. The story went down well (with them).

2. (of a ship) to sink. They were lost at sea when the ship went down.

3. (of the sun or moon) to go below the horizon.

4. to be remembered. Your bravery will go down in history.

5. (of places) to become less desirable. This part of town has gone down in the last twenty years.

go far

to be successful. If you keep on working as hard as this, I'm sure you'll go far.

go for

to attack physically or in words. The two dogs went for each other as soon as they met.

go in

(of the sun or moon) to become covered by cloud.

go in for

1. to take part in. I'm not going in for the 1,000 metres race.

2. to do (something) as a hobby, career etc. My son is going in for medicine; She goes in for collecting postcards.

go into

1. to make a careful study of (something). We'll need to go into this plan in detail.

2. to discuss in detail. I don't want to go into the problems at the moment.

go off

1. (of a bomb etc) to explode. The little boy was injured when the firework went off in his hand.

2. (of an alarm) to ring. When the alarm went off the thieves ran away.

3. to leave. He went off yesterday.

4. to begin to dislike. I've gone off cigarettes.

5. to become rotten. That meat has gone off.

6. to stop working. The fan has gone off.

go on

1. to continue. Go on reading – I won't disturb you.

2. to talk a great deal, usually too much. She goes on and on about her health.

3. to happen. What is going on here?

4. to base one's investigations etc on. The police had very few clues to go on in their search for the murderer.

go on at

to nag at. Her mother went on at her for coming home late after the dance.

go out

1. to become extinguished. The light has gone out.

2. to go to parties, concerts, meetings etc. We don't go out as much as we did when we were younger.

3. to be frequently in the company of (a person, usually of the opposite sex). I've been going out with her for months.

go over

1. to study or examine carefully. I want to go over the work you have done before you do any more.

2. to repeat (a story etc). I'll go over the whole lesson again.

3. to list. He went over all her faults.

4. (of plays, behaviour etc) to be received (well or badly). The play didn't go over at all well the first night.

go round

to be enough for everyone. Is there enough food to go round?

go slow

(of workers in a factory etc) to work less quickly than usual, eg as a form of protest.

go steady

to have a close friendly relationship with someone of the opposite sex. My girl-friend and I have been going steady for a year.

go through

1. to search in. I've gone through all my pockets but I still can't find my key.

2. to suffer. You have no idea what I went through to get this finished in time.

3. to use up. We went through a lot of money on holiday.

4. to complete. to go through certain formalities.

5. to be completed. After long hours of negotiations, the deal went through.

go through with

to finish doing. I will go through with this in spite of what you say.

go too far

to do something which is so bad as to be unacceptable.

go towards

to help to buy etc. The money we collect will go towards a new roof.

go up

1. to increase in size, value etc. The temperature/price has gone up.

2. to be built. There are office blocks going up all over town.

go up in smoke/flames

to catch fire; to be destroyed or damaged by fire etc. The building across the street went up in flames.

go with

1. to be sold with, be part of etc. The carpets will go with the house.

2. to look etc well with. The carpet goes with the wallpaper.

go without

to manage without. If you can't afford a new dress, you'll have to go without (one).

keep going

to continue doing what one is doing; to survive. The snow was falling heavily, but we had to keep going; Business is bad at the moment, but we'll manage to keep going.

make a go (of something)

to make a success (of something). He has never owned a shop before, but I think he'll make a go of it.

on the go

very busy or active. He's always on the go, from morning to night.

went

pret de go

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

Meg went daily to her pupils, and sewed, or thought she did, at home, but much time was spent in writing long letters to her mother, or reading the Washington dispatches over and over.

View in context

After lunching in the basement of the Medical School Philip went back to his rooms.

View in context

Then he went his way, and in the evening came to the village where the two inns were; and in one of these were people singing, and dancing, and feasting; but the other looked very dirty, and poor.

View in context

He at once sent the criers round to call the people in assembly, so they called them and the people gathered thereon; then, when they were got together, he went to the place of assembly spear in hand--not alone, for his two hounds went with him.

View in context

His project was quite approved at the Farm when he went there on Saturday evening.

View in context

The old woman went accordingly, and laid the matter before the King, who laughed a little at the notion of his daughter marrying a crab, but did not decline the proposal altogether, because he was a prudent monarch, and knew that the Crab was likely to be a prince in disguise.

View in context

When they got up from dinner and Tushkevitch had gone to get a box at the opera, Yashvin went to smoke, and Vronsky went down with him to his own rooms.

View in context

We went drifting down into a big bend, and the night clouded up and got hot.

View in context

Marilla went to town the next day and returned in the evening.

View in context

He stood up and made his bow, which I took a little notice of, and but a little, and went and sat down where my own attorney had pointed to me to sit, for it was his house.

View in context

"Well, hadn't we a splendid time?" he demanded defiantly, as they went down the hill field.

View in context

BENNY she was looking pretty sober, and she sighed some, now and then; but pretty soon she got to asking about Mary, and Sid, and Tom's aunt Polly, and then Aunt Sally's clouds cleared off and she got in a good humor and joined in on the questions and was her lovingest best self, and so the rest of the supper went along gay and pleasant.