goose

pronunciation

How to pronounce goose in British English: UK [ɡuːs] word uk audio image

How to pronounce goose in American English: US [ɡuːs] word us audio image

Noun:

web-footed long-necked typically gregarious migratory aquatic birds usually larger and less aquatic than ducks
a man who is a stupid incompetent fool
flesh of a goose (domestic or wild)

Word Origin

goose: goose: [OE] Goose has relatives throughout the Indo-European languages: Latin ānser, Greek khén, Sanskrit hansás, Russian gus’, Czech husa, German and Dutch gans, and Swedish gåas (not to mention Irish Gaelic gēis ‘swan’) all go back to a prehistoric Indo-European *ghans-, which probably originated as an imitation of the honking of geese. (The only major exceptions to this cosy family are French ole and Italian and Spanish oca, which come from Latin avicula ‘little bird’.) A Germanic extension of the base was *ganit- or *ganot-, which produced not only English gander ‘male goose’ but also gannet. Gosling [15] was borrowed from the Old Norse diminutive gáeslingr, literally ‘little goose’; and goshawk [OE] is a compound of goose and hawk.The verb goose ‘jab between the buttocks’, first recorded in the 1870s, may come from a supposed resemblance between the upturned thumb with which such jabbing may be done and the neck of a goose.=> gooseberry, goshawk

goose (n.): "a large waterfowl proverbially noted, I know not why, for foolishness" [Johnson], Old English gos "a goose," from Proto-Germanic *gans- "goose" (cognates: Old Frisian gos, Old Norse gas, Old High German gans, German Gans "goose"), from PIE *ghans- (cognates: 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. Geese are technically distinguished from swans and from ducks by the combination of feathered lores, reticulate tarsi, stout bill high at the base, and simple hind toe. [Century Dictionary] 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, silly or foolish person" is from early 15c. To cook one's goose first attested 1845, of unknown origin; attempts to connect it to Swedish history and Greek fables are unconvincing. Goose-egg "zero" first attested 1866 in baseball slang, from being large and round. The goose that lays golden eggs (15c.) is from Aesop.

goose (v.): "jab in the rear," c. 1880, from goose (n.), possibly from resemblance of the upturned thumb to a goose's beak, or from the notion of creating nervous excitement. Related: Goosed; goosing. In 19c. theatrical slang, to be goosed meant "to be hissed" (by 1818). A broad range of sexual slang senses historically cluster around goose and gooseberry; goose and duck was rhyming slang for "fuck;" Farmer identifies Winchester goose as "a woman; whence, by implication, the sexual favor," and goose as a verb "to go wenching, to womanize, also to possess a woman." He also has goose-grease for a woman's sexual juices, while gooser and goose's neck meant "the penis." Gooseberries (they are hairy) was "testicles," and gooseberry pudding "a woman."