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goose

Pronunciation: /ɡuːs/

The English word “goose” has 12 meanings listed here.

noun

  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.
  2. A female goose.
  3. The flesh of the goose used as food.
  4. A silly person.
  5. A tailor's iron, heated in live coals or embers, used to press fabrics.
  6. A young woman or girlfriend.
  7. An 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. To sharply poke or pinch the buttocks, or prod between the buttocks (of a person).
  2. To stimulate; to spur.
  3. To gently accelerate (a vehicle); to give repeated, small taps on the accelerator of (a vehicle); to feather the throttle of (a vehicle).
  4. Of private-hire taxi drivers, to pick up a passenger who has not booked a cab, in violation of UK licensing conditions.
  5. To hiss (a performer) off the stage.

Etymology

PIE word *ǵʰh₂éns Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰh₂éns Proto-Germanic *gans Old English gōs Middle English gos English goose From Middle English goos, gos, from Old English gōs, from Proto-West Germanic *gans, from Proto-Germanic *gans, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰh₂éns. Cognates Compare West Frisian goes, North Frisian göis (also Fering-Öömrang dialect North Frisian gus; Sölring dialect…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.