go

go
(v.)
Old English
gan
"to advance, walk; depart, go away; happen, take place; conquer; observe, practice, exercise," from West Germanic
*gaian
(source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian
gan
, Middle Dutch
gaen
, Dutch
gaan
, Old High German
gan
, German
gehen
), from PIE root
*ghē-
"to release, let go; be released" (source also of Sanskrit
jihite
"goes away," Greek
kikhano
"I reach, meet with"), but there does not seem to be general agreement on a list of cognates.
A defective verb throughout its recorded history; the Old English past tense was
eode
, a word of uncertain origin but evidently once a different verb (perhaps connected to Gothic
iddja
); it was replaced 1400s by
went
, past tense of
wenden
"to direct one's way" (see
wend
). In northern England and Scotland, however,
eode
tended to be replaced by
gaed
, a construction based on
go
. In modern English, only
be
and
go
take their past tenses from entirely different verbs.
The word in its various forms and combinations takes up 45 columns of close print in the OED. Meaning "cease to exist" is from c. 1200; that of "to appear" (with reference to dress, appearance, etc.) is from late 14c.; that of "to be sold" is from early 15c. Meaning "to be known" (with
by
) is from 1590s; that of "pass into another condition or state" is from 1580s. From c. 1600 as "to wager," hence also "to stand treat," and to
go (someone) better
in wagering (1864). Meaning "say" emerged 1960s in teen slang. Colloquial meaning "urinate or defecate" attested by 1926, euphemistic (compare Old English
gong
"a privy," literally "a going").
To
go back on
"prove faithless to" is from 1859; to
go under
in the figurative sense "to fail" is from 1849. To
go places
"be successful" is by 1934.

go
(n.)
1727, "action of going," from use of
go
(v.) to start a race, etc. Meaning "an incident, an occurrence, affair, piece of business" is from 1796. Meaning "power of going, dash, vigor" is from 1825, colloquial, originally of horses. The sense of "an attempt, a try or turn at doing something" (as in
give it a go
,
have a go at
) is from 1825 (earlier it meant "a delivery of the ball in skittles," 1773). Meaning "something that goes, a success" is from 1876. Phrase
on the go
"in constant motion" is from 1843. Phrase
from the word go
"from the beginning" is by 1834.
The go
"what is in fashion" is from 1793.
No go
"of no use" is from 1825.
also from 1727

go
(adj.)
"in order," 1951, originally in aerospace jargon, from
go
(v.).
also from 1951