geese

Noun

goose (countable and uncountable, plural geese)

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.
   • There is a flock of geese on the pond.
2. (strictly) A female goose.
   • Ganders and geese are at their best for stock from two to ten years old. They live to a great age—it is stated to thirty or more years—but after ten years they cannot be reckoned upon as reliable assets on a farm. Two years old is the best age to mate them, making up pens of a gander and two or...1902, Lewis Wright, “Geese and Swans”, in The New Book of Poultry […], London; […]: Cassell and Company, Limited, page 560, column 1
3. (uncountable) The flesh of the goose used as food.
   • Mrs. Cratchit made the gravy (ready beforehand in a little saucepan) hissing hot; Master Peter mashed the potatoes with incredible vigour; Miss Belinda sweetened up the apple-sauce; Martha dusted the hot plates; Bob took Tiny Tim beside him in a tiny corner at the table; the two young Cratchits set...1843, Charles Dickens, “Stave 3: The Second of the Three Spirits”, in A Christmas Carol
4. (slang, plural geese or gooses) A silly person.
   • I'm sorry for you, but you're such a goose.1906, Langdon Mitchell, “The New York Idea”, in John Gassner, editor, Best Plays of the Early American Theatre, 1787-1911, published 2000, →ISBN, page 430
5. (archaic) A tailor's iron, heated in live coals or embers, used to press fabrics.
   • Come in, tailor. Here you may roast your goose.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

   Synonyms:

   goose iron

6. (South Africa, dated, slang) A young woman or girlfriend.

See all 13 meanings of goose