GOOSE (geese)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: geese   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does goose mean? 

• GOOSE (noun)
  The noun GOOSE has 3 senses:

1. web-footed long-necked typically gregarious migratory aquatic birds usually larger and less aquatic than ducks

2. a man who is a stupid incompetent fool

3. flesh of a goose (domestic or wild)

  Familiarity information: GOOSE used as a noun is uncommon.

• GOOSE (verb)
  The verb GOOSE has 3 senses:

1. pinch in the buttocks

2. prod into action

3. give a spurt of fuel to

  Familiarity information: GOOSE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GOOSE (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:

A man who is a stupid incompetent fool

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

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

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

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

Derivation:

goosey; goosy (having or revealing stupidity)

Sense 3

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)

• GOOSE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they goose    ... he / she / it gooses   
Past simple: goosed   
Past participle: goosed   
-ing form: goosing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Pinch in the buttocks

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

he goosed the unsuspecting girl

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

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:

Give a spurt of fuel to

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

goose the car

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

 Context examples 

I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, who was a member of your goose club.

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

Their geese and turkeys I usually ate at a mouthful, and I confess they far exceed ours.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The next man he met was a countryman carrying a fine white goose.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

By the twang of string! if I do not soak a goose's feather with his heart's blood, it will be no fault of Samkin Aylward of the White Company.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“I heard of a man, once, who invaded the nesting grounds of wild geese,” Maud said. “They killed him.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

So she asked what she should use for new heads, since the old ones were lost, and all the geese opened their hundred mouths and screamed...

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

A turkey, or a goose, or a leg of mutton, or whatever you and your cook chuse to give us.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

“Oh, because I am such a little goose,” said Dora, “and she knows I am!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

And when she had come away, Mrs. Martin was so very kind as to send Mrs. Goddard a beautiful goose—the finest goose Mrs. Goddard had ever seen.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Be a good dog and all ’ll go well and the goose hang high. Be a bad dog, and I’ll whale the stuffin’ outa you. Understand?

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)