Gad is an old-fashioned verb meaning to wander around aimlessly or to travel from place to place without any real plan or purpose. Someone who gads about might spend their Saturday wandering through town, popping into shops without buying anything, chatting with friends they bump into, and generally being out and about without accomplishing much of anything specific.

The word has a slightly frivolous feeling to it. If your parents ask what you did all day and you say you gadded about the neighborhood, it suggests you were just roaming around enjoying yourself rather than doing anything particularly important. A gadabout is someone who does this regularly, always out socializing or exploring instead of staying home and taking care of responsibilities.

You might also hear the word gadfly, which originally meant an actual fly that bites cattle and drives them to move, but came to mean a person who constantly pesters others with questions or criticism.