Goal

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Goal \Goal\, n. [F. gaule pole, Prov. F. waule, of German
     origin; cf. Fries. walu staff, stick, rod, Goth. walus, Icel.
     v["o]lr a round stick; prob. akin to E. wale.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. The mark set to bound a race, and to or around which the
        constestants run, or from which they start to return to it


        again; the place at which a race or a journey is to end.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Part curb their fiery steeds, or shun the goal
              With rapid wheels.                    --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The final purpose or aim; the end to which a design tends,
        or which a person aims to reach or attain.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Each individual seeks a several goal. --Pope.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. A base, station, or bound used in various games as the
        point or object which a team must reach in order to score
        points; in certain games, the point which the ball or puck
        must pass in order for points to be scored. In football,
        it is a line between two posts across which the ball must
        pass in order to score points; in soccer or ice hockey, it
        is a net at each end of the soccer field into which the
        soccer ball or hocjey puck must be propelled; in
        basketball, it is the basket[7] suspended from the
        backboard, through which the basketball must pass.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
     4. (Sport) The act or instance of propelling the ball or puck
        into or through the goal[3], thus scoring points; as, to
        score a goal.
        [PJC]
  
     {Goal keeper}, (Sport) the player charged with the defense of
        the goal, such as in soccer or ice hockey.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  goal
       n 1: the state of affairs that a plan is intended to achieve and
            that (when achieved) terminates behavior intended to
            achieve it; "the ends justify the means" [syn: {end}]
       2: a successful attempt at scoring; "the winning goal came with
          less than a minute left to play"
       3: game equipment consisting of the place toward which players
          of a game try to advance a ball or puck in order to score
          points
       4: the place designated as the end (as of a race or journey);
          "a crowd assembled at the finish"; "he was nearly
          exhuasted as their destination came into view" [syn: {finish},
           {destination}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  121 Moby Thesaurus words for "goal":
     Z, aim, ambition, anchorage, apodosis, aspiration, basis, bourn,
     butt, by-end, by-purpose, calling, catastrophe, cause, ceasing,
     cessation, coda, conclusion, consideration, consummation,
     crack of doom, culmination, curtain, curtains, death, decease,
     denouement, destination, destiny, doom, duty, effect, end,
     end in view, end point, ending, envoi, epilogue, eschatology,
     expiration, fate, final cause, final solution, final twitch,
     final words, finale, finality, finis, finish, function, game,
     grand slam, ground, guiding light, guiding star, harbor, haven,
     hit, hole, hole in one, home run, homer, ideal, inspiration,
     intention, izzard, last, last breath, last gasp, last stop,
     last things, last trumpet, last words, latter end, lodestar,
     mainspring, mark, matter, motive, object, object in mind,
     objective, omega, payoff, period, peroration, port, prey,
     principle, purpose, pursuit, quarry, quietus, quintain, reason,
     reason for being, resolution, resting place, sake, score, slam,
     source, spring, stop, stoppage, stopping place, strike, swan song,
     target, teleology, term, terminal, terminal point, termination,
     terminus, touchdown, ulterior motive, ultimate aim, use, vocation,
     windup
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  goal
       
           In {logic programming}, a {predicate} applied to
          its {arguments} which the system attempts to prove by matching
          it against the {clauses} of the program.  A goal may fail or
          it may succeed in one or more ways.
       
          (1997-07-14)