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Goose   /gus/   Listen
noun
Goose  n.  (pl. geese)  (Zool.)
1.
Any large web-footen bird of the subfamily Anserinae, and belonging to Anser, Branta, Chen, and several allied genera. See Anseres. Note: The common domestic goose is believed to have been derived from the European graylag goose (Anser anser). The bean goose (A. segetum), the American wild or Canada goose (Branta Canadensis), and the bernicle goose (Branta leucopsis) are well known species. The American white or snow geese and the blue goose belong to the genus Chen. See Bernicle, Emperor goose, under Emperor, Snow goose, Wild goose, Brant.
2.
Any large bird of other related families, resembling the common goose. Note: The Egyptian or fox goose (Alopochen Aegyptiaca) and the African spur-winged geese (Plectropterus) belong to the family Plectropteridae. The Australian semipalmated goose (Anseranas semipalmata) and Cape Barren goose (Cereopsis Novae-Hollandiae) are very different from northern geese, and each is made the type of a distinct family. Both are domesticated in Australia.
3.
A tailor's smoothing iron, so called from its handle, which resembles the neck of a goose.
4.
A silly creature; a simpleton.
5.
A game played with counters on a board divided into compartments, in some of which a goose was depicted. "The pictures placed for ornament and use, The twelve good rules, the royal game of goose."
A wild goose chase, an attempt to accomplish something impossible or unlikely of attainment.
Fen goose. See under Fen.
Goose barnacle (Zool.), any pedunculated barnacle of the genus Anatifa or Lepas; called also duck barnacle. See Barnacle, and Cirripedia.
Goose cap, a silly person. (Obs.)
Goose corn (Bot.), a coarse kind of rush (Juncus squarrosus).
Goose feast, Michaelmas. (Colloq. Eng.)
Goose grass. (Bot.)
(a)
A plant of the genus Galium (G. Aparine), a favorite food of geese; called also catchweed and cleavers.
(b)
A species of knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare).
(c)
The annual spear grass (Poa annua).
Goose neck, anything, as a rod of iron or a pipe, curved like the neck of a goose; specially (Naut.), an iron hook connecting a spar with a mast.
Goose quill, a large feather or quill of a goose; also, a pen made from it.
Goose skin. See Goose flesh, above.
Goose tongue (Bot.), a composite plant (Achillea ptarmica), growing wild in the British islands.
Sea goose. (Zool.) See Phalarope.
Solan goose. (Zool.) See Gannet.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Goose" Quotes from Famous Books



... a ship sets out from San Francisco without publishing to all the world just what her business is, all the world thinks it's one of those wild-goose hunts," ...
— The Mystery • Stewart Edward White and Samuel Hopkins Adams

... her face was like the full moon; her voice like the sound of the cuckoo; her throat was like that of a pigeon; her loins narrow, like those of a lion; her hair hung in curls down to her feet; her teeth were like the seeds of the pomegranate; and her gait like that of a drunken elephant or a goose. ...
— Primitive Love and Love-Stories • Henry Theophilus Finck

... while for to git mad about de matter— Massa Will say noffin at all aint de matter wid him—but den what make him go about looking dis here way, wid he head down and he soldiers up, and as white as a goose? And den he keep a syphon all ...
— Stories by Modern American Authors • Julian Hawthorne

... lower East River. Mr. Haight was a wrinkled old man with a bald scalp covered with numerous brown patches about the size of ten-cent pieces. A fringe of white hair hung about his ears, over one of which was stuck a goose-quill pen. He looked up from his desk as I entered ...
— The Confessions of Artemas Quibble • Arthur Train

... boyish years history and tradition are equally silent. Long after his death, indeed, some idle stories became current, as their fashion is, of prophecies and prodigies in that early time. His nurse is said to have foretold that a river taking its name from a goose would prove fatal to him, and to have lamented that her child's career of glory had been frustrated because he had been checked in the act of devouring a live toad. This last story sounds much like a popular version of ...
— Claverhouse • Mowbray Morris


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