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goose

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goose¹

  • /ɡuːs/ UK, Wales
  • /ɡʉ͡ws/ British, Southern, Standard
  • /ɡus/ US
  • /ɡʉːs/ Australia, New Zealand
  • /ɡʉs/ Northern Ireland, Scotland

Rhymes with -uːs

Where it comes from

PIE word

*ǵʰh₂éns

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰh₂éns

Proto-Germanic *gans

Old English gōs

Middle English gos

English goose

From Middle English goos, gos, from Old English gōs, from Proto-West Germanic *gans, from Proto-Germanic *gans, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰh₂éns.

Cognates

Compare West Frisian goes, North Frisian göis (also Fering-Öömrang dialect North Frisian gus; Sölring dialect North Frisian Guus; Heligoland dialect North Frisian gus), Low German Goos, Gans, Dutch gans, German Gans, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian gås, Icelandic gæs, Irish gé, Latin ānser, Latvian zùoss, Russian гусь (gusʹ), Albanian gatë, Ancient Greek χήν (khḗn), Avestan 𐬰𐬁 (zā), Sanskrit हंस (haṃsá).

* The tailor's iron is so called from the likeness of the handle to the neck of a goose.

noun geese

  1. countable, uncountable Any of various grazing waterfowl of the family Anatidae, which have feathers and webbed feet and are capable of flying, swimming, and walking on land, and which are generally bigger than ducks. There is a flock of geese on the pond.
  2. countable, uncountable A female goose. Ganders and geese are at their best for stock from two to ten years old. They live to a great age—it is stated to thirty or more years—but after ten years they cannot be reckoned upon as reliable assets on a farm. Two years old is the best age to mate them, making up pens of a gander and two or thre
  3. uncountable The flesh of the goose used as food. Mrs. Cratchit made the gravy (ready beforehand in a little saucepan) hissing hot; Master Peter mashed the potatoes with incredible vigour; Miss Belinda sweetened up the apple-sauce; Martha dusted the hot plates; Bob took Tiny Tim beside him in a tiny corner at the table; the two young Cratchits set
  4. countable, slang, uncountable A silly person. I'm sorry for you, but you're such a goose.
  5. archaic, countable, uncountable A tailor's iron, heated in live coals or embers, used to press fabrics. Come in, tailor. Here you may roast your goose.

    Similar: goose iron

  6. South Africa, countable, dated, slang, uncountable A young woman or girlfriend.
  7. historical, uncountable An old English board game in which players moved counters along a board, earning a double move when they reached the picture of a goose.

verb gooses · goosing · goosed

  1. slang, transitive To sharply poke or pinch the buttocks, or prod between the buttocks (of a person). She greeted Miss Lonelyhearts, then took hold of her husband and shook the breath out of him. When he was quiet, she dragged him into their apartment. Miss Lonelyhearts followed and as he passed her in the dark foyer, she goosed him and laughed.
  2. slang, transitive To stimulate; to spur. Almost everyone in McKay’s impossibly starry cast feels like they’re jumping into the SNL host role, game for some light comedic lifting while waiting for the pros to show up and goose the laughs.
  3. slang, transitive To gently accelerate (a vehicle); to give repeated, small taps on the accelerator of (a vehicle); to feather the throttle of (a vehicle).
  4. UK, slang Of private-hire taxi drivers, to pick up a passenger who has not booked a cab, in violation of UK licensing conditions.
  5. slang, transitive To hiss (a performer) off the stage.

Goose²

proper noun

  1. A surname.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: cuckoo, jackass, fathead, zany, goof, brant, turkey, chicken, solan, ducky, chick, hen, quill, meat, oca, flesh

Translations

Every language

noun a grazing waterfowl of the family Anatidae

Españolganso, oca, ánsar, ansarón
한국어기러기 gireogi, 거위 geowi
日本語鵝鳥 gachō, 雁 wild
中文鵝 /鹅 é, 雁 yàn
हिन्दीहंस hans
Kiswahilibata bukini
Portuguêsganso
Françaisoie
DeutschGans
Italianooca, papero
Ελληνικάχήνα chína
Românăgâscă, gâscan, gânsac
Русскийгусь gusʹ, гусы́ня gusýnja, гуса́к gusák
Tiếng Việtngỗng
العربيةإِوَزّ ʔiwazz, وَزّ wazz
עבריתאווז \ אַוָּז \ אֲוָז aváz

noun flesh of a goose used as food

Españolcarne ansarina
한국어거위고기 geowigogi
中文鵝肉 /鹅肉 éròu

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Cite this
MLA

"goose." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/goose. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

goose. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/goose

Chicago

"goose." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/goose.

BibTeX
@misc{goose_2026,
  title = {goose},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/goose},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}