Meanings
goody1
goody2
plural goodies · alternative goodie
- informalA small amount of something good to eat.
[…] when the pleasant time of night is come, and the stewardess is tucking up the ladies, and putting oranges and other goodies under their pillows, and the menfolk assemble in the capstan house to smoke their last cigar.
1877, Official Guide and Album of the Cunard Steamship Company, page 951 more example
She slid the goody out into her hand and gave a little aww. He'd baked her a dark chocolate cookie with a white heart swirled on the top. “You are so sweet. I'm going to save this for later, when I need a little pick-me-up, ...
2016, Gail Chianese, Fiancé for Keeps, Lyrical Press, →ISBN - informalAny small, usually free, item.
The new tax bill has something for everyone, it's true: a cornucopia of savings for the middle class, plenty of goodies for the rich and poor--and a dagger in the back for upper-income wage slaves.
1997 August 4, Daniel Kadlec, “The Tax Bill: Money In Motion”, in CNN - IrelandPudding made by boiling bread in milk with sugar and spices.
- alternativeinformalAlternative form of goodie (“hero, good character in a story”).
Eventually he would throw the goody out of the ring, at which point the goody lost his rag, climbed back into the ring and gave the baddy a good pasting. He was declared the winner, and everybody was satisfied.
2011, Eddie Bennett, Weight for it: A life of lifting, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 91 - colloquialThat which is good, the good part of something, which one desires to extract or use up.
Use flour to thicken the gravy and get all the goody out of the pan ... make the gravy right in it. I know of nothing that beats mashed potatoes with this.
1962, Phil DeGraff, Birches, Beaches & Belches5 more examples
But you sure took the goody out of the converter. That is, physically you didn't do any damage, the converter just doesn't work chemically any more. If you have to be "emissions-legal" some day, you'll have to replace the converter.
1979, Popular Science, page 26When I was a kid I would never throw away my gum until I'd “chewed all the goody out of it." And so it is with Eden joys. To get the most out of these wonder-filled times — both large and small pleasures — we need to practice ...
1998, Becky Freeman, A View from the Porch Swing: Musings on a Complicated Search for the Simple Life, B & H Publishing Group, →ISBNYou have to put the time in to get the goody out. That's what he said. He talkin bout God and shit and then he come talkin bout the goody! He so country sometime! [A beat.] I been thinkin bout if I wanna keep smokin that Pearl Cleage.
2001, Glenn Young, The Best American Short Plays 1999-2000, Hal Leonard Corporation, →ISBN, page 48She loved to eat raw cake dough and she enjoyed licking icing off the utensils and getting all the goody from the inside of the icing cans. The yellow cakes came from box mixes - she didn't start from scratch - but […]
2003, Jerry Pilcher, Gloria's Song: A Celebration of Living in the Face of Cancer, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 29"Have you ever watched sheep grazing in a field?" Jill asked. "They pull off a small clump of grass with their teeth, and then they begin to slowly chew. Then they chew, and chew, and chew, and chew. They chew all the goody out[…]"
2003, Brenda Waggoner, Fairy Tale Faith: Living in the Meantime When You Expected Happily Ever After, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, page 149
goody3
comparative goodier · superlative goodiest
- Synonym of goody-goody (“mawkishly good; weakly benevolent or pious”).
Synonyms: goody-goody
goody4
Goody5
plural Goodys · alternative Goodey
- countableuncountableA surname from Old English.
Rankin sanctioned Ayala $3,000 and kicked him off the lawsuit after the lawyer admitted incorporating the hallucinated AI-generated cases in the brief. Morgan and Goody were sanctioned $1,000 each.
2025 February 10, Debra Cassens Weiss, “No. 42 law firm by head count sanctioned over fake case citations generated by AI”, in ABA Journal, archived from the original on 14 Feb 2025 - countableuncountableA unisex given name transferred from the surname, of rare usage
- countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Pike County, Kentucky, United States.
Synonyms & antonyms
interjectionUsed to indicate pleasure or delight.
adjectiveSynonym of goody-goody (“mawkishly good; weakly benevolent or pious”).
More synonyms by meaning
nounsomething considered choice to eat
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
goody · interjection
From good + -y (suffix forming colloquialisms), influenced by the noun (Etymology 2).
Full word history & related roots →goody · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*gʰedʰ-
- Proto-Germanic*gadanąvṛd.
- Proto-Germanic*gōdaz
- Proto-West Germanic*gōd
- Old Englishgōd
- Middle Englishgood
- Englishgood
- Englishgoody
From good + -y (nominal suffix).
Full word history & related roots →goody · adjective
- Proto-Indo-European*gʰedʰ-
- Proto-Germanic*gadanąvṛd.
- Proto-Germanic*gōdaz
- Proto-West Germanic*gōd
- Old Englishgōd
- Middle Englishgood
- Englishgood
- Englishgoody
From good + -y (adjectival suffix).
Full word history & related roots →goody · noun
Clipping of goodwife + -y (diminutive suffix). Compare hussy from housewife, the obsolete pronunciation /ˈmɪdɪf/ of midwife, and less directly, missus from mistress.
Full word history & related roots →Goody · proper noun
- Old EnglishGodġifu
- Middle EnglishGodeve
- EnglishGoody
From Middle English Godeve (female given name), from Old English Godġifu (female given name), from god + ġifu. Doublet of Godiva.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian лакомство
- лакомство (lakomstvo)A small amount of something good to eat
Finnish kiva
- kivaexpression of pleasure; yippee
German Leckerbissen, etwas Leckeres
- LeckerbissenA small amount of something good to eat
- etwas LeckeresA small amount of something good to eat
- SüßigkeitA small amount of something good to eat
Polish smakołyk
- smakołykA small amount of something good to eat
Portuguese oba
- obaexpression of pleasure; yippee
Russian здо́рово, кла́ссно
- здо́рово (zdórovo)expression of pleasure; yippee
- кла́ссно (klássno)expression of pleasure; yippee
- ништя́к (ništják)expression of pleasure; yippee
- класс! (klass!)expression of pleasure; yippee
- ура́ (urá)expression of pleasure; yippee
- ла́комство (lákomstvo)A small amount of something good to eat
- вкусня́шка (vkusnjáška)A small amount of something good to eat
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with goody
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
goody. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/goody
“goody.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/goody. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “goody,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/goody.
Source: goody on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.