ago

English

Alternative forms

• agoe, agon, agone, ygo, ygoe (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English ago, agon (“passed”), past participle of agon (“to depart, escape, pass”), from Old English āgān (“to go away, pass away, go forth, come to pass”), from Proto-Germanic *uz- (“out”), *gāną (“to go”), equivalent to a- +‎ gone. Cognate with German ergehen (“to come to pass, fare, go forth”). Compare also Old Saxon āgangan (“to go or pass by”), Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (usgaggan, “to go forth”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: ə-gō', IPA^(key): /əˈɡoʊ/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ə-gō', IPA^(key): /əˈɡəʊ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊ

Adjective

ago (comparative more ago, superlative most ago)

1. (archaic or dialectal) Gone; gone by; gone away; passed; passed away.

   in days ago/in days agone

2. (archaic or dialectal) Nearly gone; dead (used in Devonshire at the turn of the 19th century)

   Woe the day- she is agone!

Usage notes

• Usually follows the noun.

Adverb

ago (comparative more ago, superlative most ago)

1. before

   When they first met in 2000, my dad told my mom how he had gotten the money. The story begins 20 years ago.

Preposition

ago

1. (used postpositively) Before now.

   I got married ten years ago.

   • 2013 August 10, “Damned if you don’t”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

     Two years ago a pair of scientists sparked fears of a devastating virus.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• Preposition and postposition on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Further reading

• G. A. Cooke, The County of Devon
• “ago”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “ago”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “ago” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.

Anagrams

• AOG, G. O. A., G.O.A., GAO, GOA, Gao, Goa, goa, oga

Albanian

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish آغا (ağa) (compare Turkish ağa) or Greek άγιος (ágios).

Noun

ago m

1. (Gheg, archaic, poetic) god

Esperanto

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin agō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaɡo/
• Hyphenation: a‧go

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

ago (accusative singular agon, plural agoj, accusative plural agojn)

1. act, action

Synonyms

• (action): agado

Derived terms

Ido

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin agō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaɡo/

Noun

ago (plural agi)

1. act, action, deed

Synonyms

• (action): agado

Derived terms

Istriot

Etymology

From Latin acus.

Noun

ago m

1. needle

Italian

Etymology

From earlier *aco, from Latin acus (“needle”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”). Compare Romanian ac.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈa.ɡo/
• Rhymes: -aɡo
• Hyphenation: à‧go

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

ago m (plural aghi)

1. needle
   • 1947, Primo Levi, “Storia di dieci giorni”, in Se questo è un uomo [If This Is a Man], Torino: Einaudi, published 1987, →ISBN, page 190:

     Grazie alla mia ormai lunga esperienza delle cose del campo; ero riuscito a portare con me le mie cose personali: una cintura di fili elettrici intrecciati; il cucchiaio-coltello; un ago con tre gugliate; cinque bottoni; e infine, diciotto pietrine per acciarino che avevo rubato in Laboratoria.

     Thanks to my by now long experience with camp-related matters; I was able to bring with me my personal items: a belt made of braided electrical wires; the spoon-knife; a needle with three threads; five buttons; and lastly, eighteen flints for the lighter that I robbed from the Laboratory.

Derived terms

• aghetto, aghino (diminutives)
• ago di pino
• agone (augmentative)

Related terms

• aguglia (“compass needle”)

Anagrams

• goa

Japanese

Romanization

ago

1. Rōmaji transcription of あご

Karipúna Creole French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈɡo/

Interjection

ago?

1. may I come in?

Further reading

• Alfred W. Tobler (1987) Dicionário Crioulo Karipúna/Português Português/Crioulo Karípúna (in Karipúna Creole French), Summer Institute of Linguistics, page 43

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *agō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti, from the root *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”)

Cognate with Old Irish aigid, Ancient Greek ἄγω (ágō, “I lead”), Old Norse aka (“move, drive”), Avestan 𐬀𐬰𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 (azaⁱti), Sanskrit अजति (ájati, “to drive, propel, cast”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.ɡoː/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.ɡo/,

Verb

agō (present infinitive agere, perfect active ēgī, supine āctum); third conjugation

1. to act, to behave
   • Late 4th century, Jerome [et al.], transl., edited by Roger Gryson, Biblia Sacra: Iuxta Vulgatam Versionem (Vulgate), 5th edition, Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, published 2007, →ISBN, 32:7:

     viriliter agite et confortamini nolite timere nec paveatis regem Assyriorum […]

     "Act strongly and be courageous. Do not fear nor tremble before the king of Assyria"

   • 64 CE, Seneca the Younger, Epistulae morales ad Lucilium 94.6.1:

     ...doces illum quid sano faciendum sit, non efficis sanum. Pauperi ut agat divitem monstras: hoc quomodo manente paupertate fieri potest?

     ...you teach a man what a healthy man should do, but you don't make him healthy. You show the poor how to behave as a rich man: but if they remain poor, how can they do so?

2. to do
   • c. 190 BCE – 185 BCE, Plautus, Amphitryon 2.1.1:

     age ī tū secundum

     Come, do follow after me!

     (literally, “Do thou walk after/following (me)!”)

   • 63 BCE, Cicero, Catiline Orations 1.8:

     Nihil agis, nihil moliris, nihil cogitas quod non ego non modo audiam sed etiam videam planeque sentiam.

     You do nothing, you plan nothing, you think of nothing which I not only do not hear, but which I do not see and know every particular of.

   • [1865, Ausonii Popmae frisii de differentiis verborum cum additamentis ab Hekelii, Richteri, Messerschmidii et Vallaurii

     Agere, Facere et Gerere hoc differunt, quod agere et corporis, et vocis, et mentis agitatum comprehendit. Facere tantum refertur ad opera, quae corpore efficimus; aliquando et pro consentire ponitur. His enim loquendi modis utebantur recte antiqui: mecum seu tecum faciam, hoc est, mecum seu tecum consentiam. Gerere est muneris et oneris...]

3. to make (something that does not continue to exist after the maker stops)
4. to negotiate, discuss, confer, talk with one about a person or thing
5. to effect, accomplish, achieve
6. to treat, to deal
7. to act, play, perform (e.g., a role in a play)
8. to perform, transact, conduct, manage (e.g. business, affairs)
9. to administer, direct, guide, govern
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.574:

     “Trōs Tyriusque mihī nūllō discrīmine agētur.”

     “Trojan and Tyrian shall be governed , with no difference to me.” – Queen Dido

10. to drive (sense of providing an impetus for motion), impel, move, push, put in motion
    • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I.12:

      Mettius Curtius [...] ab arce decucurrerat et effusos egerat Romanos

      Mettius Curtius had run down from the citadel, and driven the Romans in disorder

11. to conduct, drive (sense of providing governance to motion)
    • 1877, Sophocles (in translation), Electra, in Aeschyli et Sophoclis: Tragoediae et Fragmenta (Paris: Institutiae Franciae Typographo)

      Intereā Orestēs postrēmus omnium ultimō locō equōs agēbat, in fīne certam spem victōriae ponēns.

      "Meanwhile, Orestes had been driving in last place and holding his horses back, putting his trust in the finish."

12. to discuss, debate, deliberate (used in civil, political and legal contexts)
13. (law) to plead
14. to think upon; to be occupied with
    • 8 CE, Ovid, The Heroines XII.208–212:

      ingentis parturit ira minas. / Quo feret ira, sequar! facti fortasse pigebit — / Et piget infido consuluisse viro. / Viderit ista deus, qui nunc mea pectora versat! / Nescio quid certe mens mea maius agit!

      Tremndous anger abounds with threat. / I’ll follow where anger carries me. Perhaps I’ll regret my deeds: / I regret having given thought to the interests of an unfaithful husband. / Let the god see to that, which churns within my heart. / Assuredly, I don't know what occupies my mind more greatly!

15. to aim at, to get at (generally in the subjunctive mood and preceded by ut, and so meaning: "that to might achieve...")
16. to stir up, excite, cause, induce
17. to disturb, agitate, vex
18. to lead, drive (e.g., livestock)
19. to chase, pursue
20. to drive at, pursue (a course of action)
21. to rob, steal, plunder, carry off
22. (of time) to pass, spend, lead
23. (of offerings) to slay, kill (as a sacrifice)
24. (of plants) to put forth, sprout, extend
25. (law) to hold (a court)
26. (passive voice) to go on, to take place, to be at issue

Usage notes

Ago renders a sense of doing or making which is continuative or behavioral. For a sense of a specific instance or occasion of doing or making, see facio. For a sense of doing or making which is yet more continuative, see agito and gero.

According to Döderlein, another difference between ago and facio when they mean "make" is that ago typically has to do with making something that does not continue after the "actor" stops doing the action; whereas with facio, the object continues to exist after the maker has made the thing. In other words, ago is temporal, whereas facio is spatial.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (accomplish): perficio, conficio, fungor, defungor, efficiō, perfero, absolvo, expleo, exsequor, gero, nāvō, perpetrō, conclūdō, condō, peragō, inclūdō, claudō, cumulō, prōflīgō, trānsigō, impleō, exhauriō
• (conduct, drive): duco, deduco, traduco, veho, portō, produco
• (stir): percieō, concieō, cieō, molior, perpello
• (rob, steal): āmoveō, rapiō, fraudō, abdūcō, dīripiō, ēripiō, adimō, rapiō, corripiō, auferō, āvertō, tollō, praedor
• (plunder): dēpraedor, praedor, dīripiō, populor, expugnō, trahō
• (discuss): colloquor, disserō
• (disturb): fatīgō, turbō, perturbō, sollicitō, īnfestō, irrītō, stimulō, agitō, angō, peragō, disturbō, ēvertō, concitō, moveō, versō, ūrō
• (pursue): exsequor, persequor, sequor, īnsector, premō, īnstō, apīscor
• (pass time): dēgō, cōnsūmō, trānsmittō, terō, tollō, eximō, trādūcō

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "disturb"): cōnsōlor

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

Further reading

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “agĕre”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 24: Refonte A–Aorte, page 257
• “ago”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ago”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ago in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to take root: radices agere (De Off. 2. 12. 73)
    
  • to bud, blossom: gemmas agere
    
  • to live (all) one's life (honourably, in the country, as a man of learning): vitam, aetatem (omnem aetatem, omne aetatis tempus) agere (honeste, ruri, in litteris), degere, traducere
    
  • I am in my thirteenth year: tertium decimum annum ago
    
  • to be at one's last gasp: animam agere
    
  • so-and-so is in a very satisfactory position; prospers: agitur praeclare, bene cum aliquo
    
  • to be ruined, undone: praecipitem agi, ire
    
  • a man's life is at stake, is in very great danger: salus, caput, vita alicuius agitur, periclitatur, in discrimine est or versatur
    
  • to thank a person (in words): gratias alicui agere pro aliqua re
    
  • to give thanks to heaven: grates agere (dis immortalibus)
    
  • (ambiguous) to have all one's trouble for nothing: rem actam or simply actum agere (proverb.)
    
  • to be occupied with business, busy: negotia agere, gerere
    
  • to pass one's life in luxury and idleness: per luxum et ignaviam aetatem agere
    
  • to be inattentive: alias res or aliud agere
    
  • to devote one's life to science, study: aetatem in litteris ducere, agere
    
  • the point at issue: id, de quo agitur or id quod cadit in controversiam
    
  • to recite a poem, line with appropriate action: carmen, versum agere
    
  • to act a play (said of the actors): fabulam agere
    
  • to play the part of some one: partes agere alicuius
    
  • to act the rôle of a slave, pander: agere servum, lenonem
    
  • to represent a thing dramatically: sic exponere aliquid, quasi agatur res (non quasi narretur)
    
  • to gesticulate: gestum (always in the sing.) agere
    
  • the question now is..: nunc id quaeritur, agitur
    
  • to be now jesting, now in earnest: ioca et seria agere
    
  • the book treats of friendship: hic liber est de amicitia (not agit) or hoc libro agitur de am.
    
  • to act reasonably, judiciously: prudenter, considerate, consilio agere (opp. temere, nullo consilio, nulla ratione)
    
  • to be moderate in all things, commit no excess: omnia modice agere
    
  • to have no principles: omnia temere agere, nullo iudicio uti
    
  • to thank, glorify the immortal gods: grates, laudes agere dis immortalibus
    
  • to keep, celebrate a festival: diem festum agere (of an individual)
    
  • to take the auspices, observe the flight of birds: augurium agere, auspicari (N. D. 2. 4. 11)
    
  • the house walls are beginning to crack: domus rimas agit
    
  • to live a lonely life: vitam solitariam agere
    
  • how are you: quid agis?
    
  • what is going on? how are you getting on: quid agitur? quid fit?
    
  • to lay the foundations: fundamenta iacere, agere
    
  • to drive to pasture: pastum agere
    
  • to submit a formal proposition to the people: agere cum populo (Leg. 3. 4. 10)
    
  • the aristocracy (as a party in politics): boni cives, optimi, optimates, also simply boni (opp. improbi); illi, qui optimatium causam agunt
    
  • to be a leading spirit of the popular cause: populi causam agere
    
  • to play the demagogue: populariter agere
    
  • to hold the census: censum habere, agere (Liv. 3. 22)
    
  • to perform the censors' duties: censuram agere, gerere
    
  • to go to law with a person: (ex) iure, lege agere cum aliquo
    
  • to proceed against some one with the utmost rigour of the law; to strain the law in one's favour: summo iure agere cum aliquo (cf. summum ius, summa iniuria)
    
  • to convene the assizes (used of a provincial governor): conventus agere (B. G. 1. 54)
    
  • to conduct a person's case (said of an agent, solicitor): causam alicuius agere (apud iudicem)
    
  • a person's life is in jeopardy: caput alicuius agitur (vid. sect. V. 8)
    
  • to crucify: in crucem agere, tollere aliquem
    
  • to set the army in motion: agmen agere
    
  • to mount guard in the camp: vigilias agere in castris (Verr. 4. 43)
    
  • to keep watch on the rampart: custodias agere in vallo
    
  • to be on duty before the gates: stationes agere pro portis
    
  • to carry off booty: ferre atque agere praedam
    
  • to advance pent-houses, mantlets: vineas agere (B. G. 3. 21)
    
  • to make mines, subterraneous passages: cuniculos agere (B. G. 3. 21)
    
  • to drive the enemy before one: prae se agere hostem
    
  • to triumph over some one: triumphum agere de or ex aliquo or c. Gen. (victoriae, pugnae)
    
  • to treat with some one about peace: agere cum aliquo de pace
    
  • to row: navem remis agere or propellere
    
  • (ambiguous) I'm undone! it's all up with me: perii! actum est de me! (Ter. Ad. 3. 2. 26)
    
  • (ambiguous) to have all one's trouble for nothing: rem actam or simply actum agere (proverb.)
    
  • (ambiguous) it's all over with me; I'm a lost man: actum est de me
    

Lolopo

Etymology

From Proto-Loloish *go¹ (Bradley). Cognate with Burmese အစ်ကို (ackui).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

ago 

1. (Yao'an) elder brother

Maranao

Etymology

Akin to Cebuano ug.

Conjunction

ago

1. and

Samoan

Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian *aŋo, from Proto-Oceanic *yaŋo. Cognate with Tongan ango.

Noun

ago

1. turmeric

Usage notes

Once cooked, it is called lega.

References

• Tyron, Darell (1994) “Oceanic plant names”, in A.K. Pawley and M.D. Ross, editors, Austronesian Terminologies: Continuity and Change, Caberra, Australia: Australian National University, →ISBN, page 493

Ternate

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

ago

1. a kind of root crop

Further reading

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh

Võro

Etymology

Of disputed origin; cognate to Estonian agu.

Noun

ago (genitive ao, partitive ako)

1. twilight

Inflection

Derived terms

Yoruba

Yoruba phrasebook

This entry is part of the phrasebook project, which presents criteria for inclusion based on utility, simplicity and commonness.

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /à.ɡò/

Interjection

àgò!

1. excuse me, hello, an interjection used to get the attention of the addressee

   àgò onílé yìí o! ― Hello to the owners of this house!

Derived terms

• kágò (“to greet 'hello'”)
• yàgò (“move out of the way, excuse me”)

Related terms

• dákun (“excuse me”)
• yẹra (“to move out the way for someone”)

Etymology 2

Compare with Olukumi agó, Itsekiri ẹgó, Igala àgó, Ayere úgó (“navel”). Proposed to be derived from Proto-Yoruba *à-gó, from Proto-Edekiri *à-gó, ultimately from Proto-Yoruboid *à-gó. It is unclear if this word was used in Standard Yoruba as there are few texts that cite its existence in Standard Yoruba. It is possible that the word had become long obsolete in Standard Yoruba.

Alternative forms

• ẹgó (Gbẹdẹ)
• ògó (Iyagba)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /à.ɡó/

Noun

àgó or agó

1. (anatomy, Ondo, Ikalẹ, Eastern Akoko, Ọwọ) hip, waist

   Synonyms: bèbèrè ùdí, ìbàdí, ẹ̀gbẹ́, bèbè, ìgbaròkó

Coordinate terms

• bèbè (“waist beads”)