goose

noun

1. 1

   Any of various grazing waterfowl of the family Anatidae, which have feathers and webbed feet and are capable of flying, swimming, and walking on land, and which are generally bigger than ducks.

   There is a flock of geese on the pond.

   The goose, reputed to possess high generative power, was sacred to Priapus.

   A group of geese is called a gaggle.

2. 2

   A female goose.

3. 3

   The flesh of the goose used as food.

4. 4

   slangA silly person.

   I'm sorry for you, but you're such a goose.

   Have you stopped to think, you gooses, that Andy might not wish you to give it away?

   You gooses. I didn’t accept his proposal. Mrs Plackett did. She did because she would. Don’t you see?

   Surely I needn’t explain to you gooses that none of you, not even you, Caro, have the sort of dowry or connections or the appeal that such a match would require.

5. 5

   archaicA tailor's iron, heated in live coals or embers, used to press fabrics.

   Come in, tailor. Here you may roast your goose.

6. 6

   datedA young woman or girlfriend.

7. 7

   historicalAn old English board game in which players moved counters along a board, earning a double move when they reached the picture of a goose.

verb

1. 1

   slangTo sharply poke or pinch the buttocks, or prod between the buttocks (of a person).

   She greeted Miss Lonelyhearts, then took hold of her husband and shook the breath out of him. When he was quiet, she dragged him into their apartment. Miss Lonelyhearts followed and as he passed her in the dark foyer, she goosed him and laughed.

   The witness stand. Goldminers giving evidence, sure he's violent didn't I see him with my own peepers chasing those poor kids up on the roof and he goosed my wife last Christmas. Violently. Just a forceful nudge of the knee.

   Here are the three strange men have exposed themselves to me, the two obscene phone callers, the time I was goosed by an employer.

2. 2

   slangTo stimulate; to spur.

   Almost everyone in McKay’s impossibly starry cast feels like they’re jumping into the SNL host role, game for some light comedic lifting while waiting for the pros to show up and goose the laughs.

   The ensuing snarknado also seemed to goose the TV ratings. Hundreds of thousands of viewers switched on the movie after it began, suggesting that they’d gotten wind through Twitter of the bananas spectacle that was unfolding.

   In some ways, Joe Biden’s administration goosed the cycle. His administration expanded industrial policy through semiconductor and clean-energy subsidies, […].

3. 3

   slangTo gently accelerate (a vehicle); to give repeated, small taps on the accelerator of (a vehicle); to feather the throttle of (a vehicle).

4. 4

   slangOf private-hire taxi drivers, to pick up a passenger who has not booked a cab, in violation of UK licensing conditions.

5. 5

   slangTo hiss (a performer) off the stage.

Forms

plural

geese

past tense

goosed

past participle

goosed

present participle

goosing

third person singular

gooses