definitions
  • synonyms

gaggle

[ gag-uh l ]
/ ˈgæg əl /
|

verb (used without object), gag·gled, gag·gling.

to cackle.

noun

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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Nearby words

gage, gage, thomas, gager, gagger, gaggery, gaggle, gagman, gagster, gah, gahanna, gahnite

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for gaggling

  • Of waking dog, nor gaggling goose more waker then the hound.'

    Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 (of 7) -- Romaunt of the Rose; Minor Poems|Geoffrey Chaucer

  • As they fly they make a curious "gaggling" cry, which can be heard from a very long distance.

    The Animal World, A Book of Natural History|Theodore Wood

  • On one side of her were four or five half starved squeaking pigs, on the other a flock of gaggling geese.

    Alonzo and Melissa|Daniel Jackson, Jr.

  • Their cry is almost indistinguishable from the gaggling of geese, and they fly in the same chain-like formations.

    Wild Spain (Espaa agreste)|Abel Chapman

British Dictionary definitions for gaggling

gaggle

/ (ˈɡæɡəl) /

verb

(intr) (of geese) to cackle

noun

a flock of geese
informal a disorderly group of people
a gabbling or cackling sound

Word Origin for gaggle

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for gaggling

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.).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper