Geutan

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. An Old English verb meaning to pour out a liquid, such as water or blood ; to cast molten metal into a mould to make an object
2. A verb from Old English for pouring out a fluid, like tears or blood ; a term for casting liquid metal into a shaped mold
3. Old English for letting a liquid flow out of a vessel ; a word used for shaping metal by pouring it while molten into a form

Etymology: Old English "geotan" (the word here is spelled "geutan" in its West Saxon form, with the same root) meant to pour, and it is one of the few Old English verbs whose modern descendant is a proper English word still used in foundries. The verb belongs to a Germanic family that also gave Dutch "gieten" and German "gießen," all meaning to pour a liquid or to cast metal. The sense of casting molten metal into a mould is the one that has lasted. A founder pours hot bronze or iron into a shaped cavity and lets it harden into a bell, a cannon or a statue, and that technical use is the reason the verb survives in the trade. The ordinary sense of pouring a drink has largely been carried by other words over the centuries. Modern English "geutan" has no independent life; it is the ancestor of the verb "to found," as in "founder," which keeps the metalworking meaning alive.