goose
Americannoun
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geese,
plural
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gooses
plural
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any of numerous wild or domesticated, web-footed swimming birds of the family Anatidae, especially of the genera Anser and Branta, most of which are larger and have a longer neck and legs than the ducks.
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a female bird of the family Anatidae, especially of genera Anser and Branta, as distinguished from the male, or gander.
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the flesh of a bird of the family Anatidae, especially of genera Anser and Branta, used as food.
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a silly or foolish person; simpleton.
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Slang. a poke between the buttocks to startle.
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Informal. anything that energizes, strengthens, or the like.
to give the economy a badly needed goose.
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a tailor's smoothing iron with a curved handle.
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an obsolete board game played with dice and counters in which a player whose cast falls in a square containing the picture of a goose is allowed to advance double the number of their throw.
verb (used with object)
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gooses,
present (3rd person singular)
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goosed,
past participle, past
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goosing
present participle
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Slang. to poke (a person) between the buttocks to startle.
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Informal.
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to prod or urge to action or an emotional reaction.
The promise of time off may goose the workers and increase profits.
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to strengthen or improve (often followed byup ).
Let's goose up the stew with some wine.
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to increase; raise (often followed byup ).
to goose up government loans in weak industries.
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to give a spurt of fuel to (a motor) to increase speed.
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idioms
verb
noun
noun
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any of various web-footed long-necked birds of the family Anatidae: order Anseriformes. They are typically larger and less aquatic than ducks and are gregarious and migratory See also brent goose barnacle goose greylag snow goose
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the female of such a bird, as opposed to the male (gander)
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informal a silly person
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a pressing iron with a long curving handle, used esp by tailors
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the flesh of the goose, used as food
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he constantly exaggerates the importance of a person or thing
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informal
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to spoil someone's plans
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to bring about someone's ruin, downfall, etc
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to sacrifice future benefits for the sake of momentary present needs See also golden goose
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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goosesimple
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goosessimple
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have goosedperfect
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has goosedperfect
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am goosingprogressive
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are goosingprogressive
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is goosingprogressive
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have been goosingperfect progressive
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has been goosingperfect progressive
Past
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goosedsimple
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had goosedperfect
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was goosingprogressive
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were goosingprogressive
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had been goosingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of goose
First recorded before 1000; Middle English gose, goos, Old English gōs (plural gēs ); cognate with German Gans, Old Norse gās; compare Sanskrit haṅsa, Greek chḗn, Latin ānser
Explanation
A goose is a large bird with webbed feet. Geese hang out around ponds and lakes, fly in a V formation, and make a distinct honking noise. Geese are classified as waterfowl, birds that live at least part of the time in a body of water. If someone calls you a goose, it's mildly insulting: they're saying you're silly. Many other common phrases use goose, including "a wild goose chase," which means a hopeless pursuit or waste of time, and "your goose is cooked," which translates to "you are in big trouble!"
Vocabulary lists containing goose
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“At least we can try and save our cops from going on wild goose chases.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
The meat has been described as tasting like a cross between kipper and steak or "salty goose" and, less flatteringly, as "rotten leather and fishy beef", external.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
Strewn about the messy stand are a freshly killed rooster, duck and goose.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
While the next men’s World Cup, FIFA’s biggest golden goose, is still four years away, the consequences of a European boycott would have been felt immediately.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026
“This is a wild goose chase,” the pilot said.
From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret
The geese eventually fire their weapons into the air as fireworks explode over the words “Lake America.”
From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026
Jones is not the only coach to have used geese to motivate his players.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
He often cribbed from a motivational text called “Lessons from Geese” when talking about Wawa, explaining: “Why do geese fly in a ‘V’?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
"An eyewitness account of about 20 'geese' taking flight and heading toward the river just minutes before a loud bang was heard corroborates geese in the area shortly before the crash."
From Barron's ● Jul. 16, 2026
Roz couldn’t be seen chatting with geese, so she whispered a quick good-bye to her new friends and went back to work.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
But I dug how Cretton gooses our spidey senses with dramatic sound effects.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
Presprouting gooses corms into an even earlier bloom.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 27, 2024
The experimental vaccine takes an entirely different approach: It gooses the body's preexisting supply of pathogen-gobbling immune cells called macrophages, which engulf and digest bacteria, fungi and other bad actors.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 4, 2023
And she gooses the dramatic tension with a few scattered hints — such as the woman’s neglect in taking her Honda Civic to the shop — that later flower savagely.
From New York Times ● Nov. 30, 2017
At first I thought them Canadians also done something to the wild gooses and ducks sitting in the water so’s they don’t tear ’way once you come near ’em the way them down-home birds do.
From "The Journey of Little Charlie" by Christopher Paul Curtis
Cycling, like other endurance sports, has undergone a revolution in carb-taking, a trend that also goosed mind-bending breakthroughs like the recent sub 2-hour marathons.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Last year, the Oscars goosed their A-list glitz by having each acting award presented by five celebrities who expressed their admiration for every nominee.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2025
"You're totally goosed the next day and then the day after that is a battle as well," said Murray, whose brother Andy finished an Australian Open match last year at 4am.
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2024
Still, even if that report is goosed up, just look out the window.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2023
The bed sagged, the TV picture jumped as if it were being mercilessly goosed by an electronic component, and my door didn’t lock.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
The kids took to TikTok and Instagram to dissect every awful thing Banks and the rest did in the name of goosing ratings, with many wondering why its audience barely blinked at its endless exploitation.
From Salon ● Feb. 20, 2026
That would relax the pressure on the economy, while goosing prices for stocks and other investments.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 25, 2024
Walters agreed but wanted to revamp it by changing the name, goosing the program’s academic tone and embracing discussions of more personal interest to viewers.
From New York Times ● Dec. 30, 2022
Parton gives the hoary tune new life by flipping the gender of Rodgers’ lyric — she’s a “lady muleskinner” — and by goosing it with a hurtling rock-and-soul rhythm track.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2022
Five or six more men left the porch and surrounded the fractious beast, goosing him in the sides and making him show his temper.
From "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
