goose step

¹

noun

1. a marching step of some infantries in which the legs are swung high and kept straight and stiff.
2. a military exercise in which the body is balanced on one foot, without advancing, while the other foot is swung forward and back.

goose-step

²

[ goos-step ]

verb (used without object)

, goose-stepped, goose-step·ping.

1. to march in a goose step:

   Troops goose-stepped past the reviewing stand.

goose step

noun

1. a military march step in which the leg is swung rigidly to an exaggerated height, esp as in the German army in the Third Reich
2. an abnormal gait in animals

verb

1. intr to march in goose step

goose step

1. A straight-legged style of military marching used by the armies of several nations, but associated particularly with the army of Germany under the Nazis .

Notes

The term is sometimes used to suggest the unthinking loyalty of followers or soldiers: “Brown has a goose-step mentality.”

Other Words From

• goose-stepper noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of goose step¹

First recorded in 1800–10

Origin of goose step²

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

It required no revolution of his nature to learn to calculate the range and fire a field gun or to march the goose-step.

From Project Gutenberg

There are no great dormitories where hundreds sleep, and no vast dining-room where they march in to the goose-step.

From Project Gutenberg

There is determination, but there is no cock-sureness, no goose-step.

From Project Gutenberg

It is mimic savage warfare uncontrolled, and far more real and warlike than the goose-step evolutions of European armies.

From Project Gutenberg

My pace was slow and cautious; not quite so slow as the goose-step, but something near it.

From Project Gutenberg