Goad

[gohd] /goʊd/

noun
1.
a stick with a pointed or electrically charged end, for driving cattle, oxen, etc.; prod.
2.
anything that pricks or wounds like such a stick.
3.
something that encourages, urges, or drives; a stimulus.
verb (used with object)
4.
to prick or drive with, or as if with, a goad; prod; incite.
/ɡəʊd/
noun
1.
a sharp pointed stick for urging on cattle, etc
2.
anything that acts as a spur or incitement
verb
3.
(transitive) to drive with or as if with a goad; spur; incite
n.

Old English gad “point, spearhead, arrowhead,” from Proto-Germanic *gaido (cf. Lombardic gaida “spear”), from PIE *ghei- (cf. Sanskrit hetih “missile, projectile,” himsati “he injures;” Avestan zaena- “weapon;” Greek khaios “shepherd’s staff;” Old English gar “spear;” Old Irish gae “spear”). Figurative use is since 16c., probably from the Bible.
v.

1570s, from goad (n.); earliest use is figurative. Related: Goaded; goading.

(Heb. malmad, only in Judg. 3: 31), an instrument used by ploughmen for guiding their oxen. Shamgar slew six hundred Philistines with an ox-goad. “The goad is a formidable weapon. It is sometimes ten feet long, and has a sharp point. We could now see that the feat of Shamgar was not so very wonderful as some have been accustomed to think.” In 1 Sam. 13:21, a different Hebrew word is used, _dorban_, meaning something pointed. The expression (Acts 9:5, omitted in the R.V.), “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks”, i.e., against the goad, was proverbial for unavailing resistance to superior power.