goose Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun web-footed long-necked typically gregarious migratory aquatic birds usually larger and less aquatic than ducks
  2. noun a man who is a stupid incompetent fool
    goof; cuckoo; fathead; bozo; zany; twat; jackass; goofball.
  3. noun flesh of a goose (domestic or wild)
  4. verb pinch in the buttocks
    • he goosed the unsuspecting girl
  5. verb prod into action
  6. verb give a spurt of fuel to
    • goose the car

WordNet

Goose noun
Etymology
OE. gos, AS. gs, pl. gs; akin to D. & G. gans, Icel. gas, Dan. gaas, Sw. gs, Russ. guse. OIr. geiss, L. anser, for hanser, Gr. , Skr. hamsa. Cf. Gander, Gannet, Ganza, Gosling.
Wordforms
plural Geese
Definitions
(Zoöl.)
  1. Any large web-footen bird of the subfamily Anserinæ, and belonging to Anser, Branta, Chen, and several allied genera. See Anseres. ✍ The common domestic goose is believed to have been derived from the European graylag goose (Anser anser). The bean goose (A. segetum), the American wild or Canada goose (Branta Canadensis), and the bernicle goose (Branta leucopsis) are well known species. The American white or snow geese and the blue goose belong to the genus Chen. See Bernicle, Emperor goose, under Emperor, Snow goose, Wild goose, Brant.
  2. Any large bird of other related families, resembling the common goose. ✍ The Egyptian or fox goose (Alopochen Ægyptiaca) and the African spur-winged geese (Plectropterus) belong to the family Plectropteridæ. The Australian semipalmated goose (Anseranas semipalmata) and Cape Barren goose (Cereopsis Novæ-Hollandiæ) are very different from northern geese, and each is made the type of a distinct family. Both are domesticated in Australia.
  3. A tailor's smoothing iron, so called from its handle, which resembles the neck of a goose.
  4. A silly creature; a simpleton.
  5. A game played with counters on a board divided into compartments, in some of which a goose was depicted.
    The pictures placed for ornament and use, The twelve good rules, the royal game of goose. Goldsmith.

Webster 1913