gaggle
[gag-uh l]
- to cackle.
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- a flock of geese when not flying.Compare skein.
- an often noisy or disorderly group or gathering: a politician followed by a gaggle of supporters.
- an assortment of related things.
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Origin of gaggle
1350–1400; Middle English gagelen (v.), gagel (noun); of imitative orig.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
seriesarraylotcollectionbatchthronghordegroupselloutpeoplecrewcongregationmasspartypressmobcirclepackbroodlegionExamples from the Web for gaggle
Contemporary Examples
Growing up in Wellsville, New York, Beck was the middle child in a gaggle of sisters and a brother.
We met with a gaggle of foreign ministers for hours over days.
A gaggle of adolescent dragons intent on flame-broiling every goat in Meereen.
Game of Thrones’ Ep. 6, ‘The Laws of Gods and Men’: The Riveting Trial of Tyrion LannisterAndrew Romano
May 12, 2014
You name it, we went there, along with a gaggle of individuals who each had some kind of purpose.
A gaggle of party faithful across the country will have six years in office to cut their teeth.
Historical Examples
Then, with a clang of wings and a chorus of shrill quacks, a gaggle of wild duck got up and sped away into the dark.
The City in the CloudsC. Ranger Gull
He hears the gaggle of geese, the trumpetings of wild swans, and the cry of the curlew as it hovers over the lights.
Poachers and PoachingJohn Watson
gaggle
- (intr) (of geese) to cackle
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- a flock of geese
- informal a disorderly group of people
- a gabbling or cackling sound
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Word Origin
C14: of Germanic origin; compare Old Norse gagl gosling, Dutch gaggelen to cackle, all of imitative origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for gaggle
n.
late 15c., gagyll, with reference to both geese and women. Barnhart says possibly from Old Norse gagl "small goose, gosling, bird;" OED calls it "one of the many artificial terms invented in the 15th c. as distinctive collectives referring to particular animals or classes of persons." Possibly of imitative origin (cf. Dutch gagelen "to chatter;" Middle English gaggle "to cackle," used of geese, attested from late 14c.).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper