goose egg

American  

noun

Informal.

1. the numeral zero, often used to indicate the failure of a team to score in a game or unit of a game.

   a pitchers' duel, with nothing but goose eggs on the scoreboard.

2. a lump raised by a blow, especially on the head.

---

goose egg Idioms  

1. Zero, nothing, especially a score of zero. For example, Our team did badly, earning goose egg, or My income from writing this year was goose egg. This expression is an Americanization of the earlier British duck's egg. [Mid-1800s]

---

Etymology

Origin of goose egg

1350–1400; 1885–90, goose egg for def. 1; Middle English: the egg of a goose

Example Sentences

Los Alamitos avoided a second-half goose egg thanks to a 45-yard touchdown run from the 5-foot-11 tailback.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 6, 2025

I don't know how to put this other than to form a rhetorical circle with my thumb and forefinger signaling a big fat goose egg.

From Salon • Sep. 16, 2023

In his very first Derby appearance, in 1990, Griffey laid a goose egg at Wrigley Field: Zero homers, hard as that is to fathom.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 1, 2023

Miller, who averages nearly 20 points, finally cracked the big goose egg when she put her head down to force a whistle with 2:53 remaining in the half.

From Washington Post • Mar. 25, 2023

Or she’ll say, That big gouter like a goose egg under her chin, that’s how I remember Mama Nguza.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

Related Words

• nonentity