Library / English Dictionary

GOOSE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: geese   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Web-footed long-necked typically gregarious migratory aquatic birds usually larger and less aquatic than ducks

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("goose" is a kind of...):

anseriform bird (chiefly web-footed swimming birds)

Meronyms (parts of "goose"):

goose down (down of the goose)

goose (flesh of a goose (domestic or wild))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "goose"):

gosling (young goose)

gander (mature male goose)

Anser cygnoides; Chinese goose (very large wild goose of northeast Asia; interbreeds freely with the greylag)

Anser anser; graylag; graylag goose; greylag; greylag goose (common grey wild goose of Europe; ancestor of many domestic breeds)

blue goose; Chen caerulescens (North American wild goose having dark plumage in summer but white in winter)

brant; brant goose; brent; brent goose (small dark geese that breed in the north and migrate southward)

Branta canadensis; Canada goose; Canadian goose; honker (common greyish-brown wild goose of North America with a loud, trumpeting call)

barnacle; barnacle goose; Branta leucopsis (European goose smaller than the brant; breeds in the far north)

Holonyms ("goose" is a member of...):

Anatidae; family Anatidae (swimming birds having heavy short-legged bodies and bills with a horny tip: swans; geese; ducks)

gaggle (a flock of geese)

Derivation:

gosling (young goose)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Flesh of a goose (domestic or wild)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("goose" is a kind of...):

poultry (flesh of chickens or turkeys or ducks or geese raised for food)

Holonyms ("goose" is a part of...):

goose (web-footed long-necked typically gregarious migratory aquatic birds usually larger and less aquatic than ducks)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A man who is a stupid incompetent fool

Synonyms:

bozo; cuckoo; fathead; goof; goofball; goose; jackass; twat; zany

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("goose" is a kind of...):

fool; muggins; sap; saphead; tomfool (a person who lacks good judgment)

Derivation:

goosey; goosy (having or revealing stupidity)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Give a spurt of fuel to

Example:

goose the car

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "goose" is one way to...):

pump (operate like a pump; move up and down, like a handle or a pedal)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Prod into action

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "goose" is one way to...):

egg on; incite; prod (urge on; cause to act)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 3

Meaning:

Pinch in the buttocks

Example:

he goosed the unsuspecting girl

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "goose" is one way to...):

nip; pinch; squeeze; tweet; twinge; twitch (squeeze tightly between the fingers)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Credits

 Context examples: 

The report had scarcely died away ere it was repeated and repeated from without in a scattering volley, shot behind shot, like a string of geese, from every side of the enclosure.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

These symptoms include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, diarrhea and vomiting, and cold flashes with goose bumps.

(Heroin, NIH: National Institute on Drug Abuse)

The small bundles of smooth muscle connected to hair follicles that cause the hair to stand straight creating 'goose bumps.'

(Erector Muscle of the Hair, NCI Thesaurus)

From the beginning he has never concealed his belief that Professor Challenger is an absolute fraud, that we are all embarked upon an absurd wild-goose chase and that we are likely to reap nothing but disappointment and danger in South America, and corresponding ridicule in England.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Great rounds of beef, saddles of mutton, smoking tongues, veal and ham pies, turkeys and chickens, and geese, with every variety of vegetables, and a succession of fiery cherries and heavy ales were the main staple of the feast.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Sold out of geese, I see,” continued Holmes, pointing at the bare slabs of marble.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

So they had to spend the night with the goose.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

"It's all right. Get up, and don't be a goose, Jo," was the cavalier reply to her petition.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

From each man's girdle hung sword or axe, according to his humor, and over the right hip there jutted out the leathern quiver with its bristle of goose, pigeon, and peacock feathers.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We made merry about Dora's wanting to be liked, and Dora said I was a goose, and she didn't like me at any rate, and the short evening flew away on gossamer-wings.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)