golden goose

American  

noun

1. a legendary goose that laid one golden egg a day and was killed by its impatient owner, who wanted all the gold immediately.

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golden goose British  

noun

1. a goose in folklore that laid a golden egg a day until its greedy owner killed it in an attempt to get all the gold at once

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

golden goose

As Vienna grapples with smashed record after smashed record for tourist numbers, a plan to more than double its visitors' tax has worried hotel owners fearful of killing the Austrian capital's golden goose.

From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026

SpaceX has long been considered a golden goose by IPO bankers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026

But OpenAI’s golden goose is not selling fancy coding software to businesses.

From Slate ● Feb. 10, 2026

“Despite the state’s national reputation as ‘Scandinavia by the Sea,’ there remains a strong anti-tax impulse among voters who often reject tax increases and are loath to kill the state’s golden goose of tech entrepreneurship.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2026

“Wasn’t the golden goose locked up in a cage?”

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

Related Words

• moneymaker