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• gander
  gander

  noun

  the male of the goose.
• Gander
  Gander

  noun

  a town in E Newfoundland, in Canada: airport on the great circle route between New York and northern Europe.

gander

¹ American  

[gan-der] / ˈgæn dər /

noun

• ganders
  plural

1. the male of the goose.

2. Slang. a look.

   Take a gander at his new shoes.

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Gander ² American  

[gan-der] / ˈgæn dər /

noun

1. a town in E Newfoundland, in Canada: airport on the great circle route between New York and northern Europe.

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gander British  

/ ˈɡændə /

noun

1. a male goose

2. informal a quick look (esp in the phrase take ( or have ) a gander )

3. informal a simpleton

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gander Idioms  

1. see take a gander at.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• ganders
  plural

Etymology

Origin of gander

before 1000; 1910–15 gander for def. 2; Middle English; Old English gan ( d ) ra; cognate with Middle Low German ganre, Dutch gander; akin to goose, German Gans

Explanation

A gander is a male goose, and also an insult meaning "simpleton," a bit like calling someone "a silly goose." Besides being the proper name for a male goose and a slang word for silly man, the word gander also shows up in the idiom "take a gander." The slang sense of gander comes from the meaning recorded in 1886, to take a long look by craning one's neck like a goose, or wander foolishly (again, like a goose).

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gander Gander ganders

For instance, take a gander at this not-so-little equation: $1.75 trillion divided by $18.674 billion equals 93.71 times.

From Barron's ● May 29, 2026

Don’t take our word for it—take a gander at developments in commodity prices besides energy, or financial gaming parlors such as the private-credit market.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026

Go on and take a gander at the ingredients list.

From Salon ● Nov. 25, 2024

Khem’s shift doesn’t start for another 15 minutes or so, but without complaint she walks behind the counter and takes a gander.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 3, 2023

When the movement stills and the irate Spanish peters out, I gather my nerve and raise my head to take a gander at what I’m up against here.

From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson

They stuck around too long for people riding the eclipse train in Western New York and returned to block the totality in Gander, Newfoundland, one of the last places the complete eclipse was visible.

From New York Times ● Apr. 9, 2024

Elsewhere, Maxine Peake will star in a play based on rediscovered 1977 dystopian novel They, and artist Ryan Gander will mint 200,000 coins that will be hidden across Manchester.

From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2023

Discussing the news of Vander Plas’s season ending injury was particularly disheartening for Bennett, who is close with Gander Plas’s father.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 9, 2023

British artist Ryan Gander, who’s from Suffolk, is showing work at Lisson Gallery’s booth.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2023

In the evenings, when Gander Joe came without his can, or with his can empty, he would say to his stepmother: "Oh, steppy! it was so nice; everything was singing."

From A Book of Ghosts by S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

This guarantees regular ganders at their fire-breathing pets along with Matt Smith, still beloved for his tenure on "Doctor Who."

From Salon ● Sep. 1, 2022

What must be done to provide sauce for these ganders?

From Time Magazine Archive

Best photograph: A Slovakian goosegirl, ganders and geese against a background of rolling, lawnlike fields, mountains, summer clouds.

From Time Magazine Archive

“Anybody would think we had three ganders, three geese, and twenty-one goslings. Sheep?”

From "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White

One of these games was to stand in a circle, while the junior ganders, one after another, walked into the middle of it with their heads stretched out, pretending to hiss.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White