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[goos] /gus/

noun, plural geese for 1, 2, 4, 8; gooses for 5–7.
1.
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.
2.
the female of this bird, as distinguished from the male, or gander.
3.
the flesh of a goose, used as food.
4.
a silly or foolish person; simpleton.
5.
Slang. a poke between the buttocks to startle.
6.
Informal. anything that energizes, strengthens, or the like:
to give the economy a badly needed goose.
7.
a tailor’s smoothing iron with a curved handle.
8.
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 his or her throw.
verb (used with object), goosed, goosing.
9.
Slang. to poke (a person) between the buttocks to startle.
10.
Informal.

Idioms, plural geese.
11.
cook someone’s goose, Informal. to ruin someone’s hopes, plans, chances, etc.:
His goose was cooked when they found the stolen gems in his pocket.
/ɡuːs/
noun (pl) geese (ɡiːs)
1.
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 related adjective anserine
2.
the female of such a bird, as opposed to the male (gander)
3.
(informal) a silly person
4.
(pl) gooses. a pressing iron with a long curving handle, used esp by tailors
5.
the flesh of the goose, used as food
6.
all his geese are swans, he constantly exaggerates the importance of a person or thing
7.
(informal) cook someone’s goose

8.
kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, to sacrifice future benefits for the sake of momentary present needs See also golden goose
/ɡuːs/
verb
1.
(transitive) to prod (a person) playfully in the behind
noun (pl) gooses
2.
a playful prod in the behind
n.

“a large waterfowl proverbially noted, I know not why, for foolishness” [Johnson], Old English gos, from Proto-Germanic *gans- “goose” (cf. Old Frisian gos, Old Norse gas, Old High German gans, German Gans “goose”), from PIE *ghans- (cf. Sanskrit hamsah (masc.), hansi (fem.), “goose, swan;” Greek khen; Latin anser; Polish gęś “goose;” Lithuanian zasis “goose;” Old Irish geiss “swan”), probably imitative of its honking.

Spanish ganso “goose” is from a Germanic source. Loss of “n” sound is normal before “s.” Plural form geese is an example of i-mutation.

Meaning “simpleton” is from 1540s. To cook one’s goose first attested 1845, of unknown origin; attempts to connect it to Swedish history and Greek fables have been unconvincing. Goose egg “zero” first attested 1866 in baseball slang. The goose that laid the golden egg is from Aesop.
v.

“jab in the rear,” c.1880, from goose (n.), possibly from resemblance of the upturned thumb to a goose’s beak. Related: Goosed; goosing. In 19c. theatrical slang, to be goosed meant “to be hissed” (by 1818).

One’s chances are ruined: “After the recent disclosures of foul play, political analysts feel that the candidate’s goose is now thoroughly cooked.”

noun

verb

Related Terms

cook someone’s goose, as full of shit as a christmas goose, loose as a goose

[fr the presumed prodding action of an angry goose; influenced by an earlier sense, ”to do the sex act to; screw,” where the instrument is a tailor’s goose, a smoothing iron with a curved handle, found by 1690]