Word.ws English Dictionary

playing gooseberry

playing gooseberry is the present participle and gerund of play gooseberry.

Meaning of play gooseberry

Verb

play gooseberry (third-person singular simple present plays gooseberry, present participle playing gooseberry, simple past and past participle played gooseberry)

  1. (UK, dated, slang) To be an unwanted third party accompanying two lovers, to serve as a chaperon.
    • "Well, new experiences are broadening. Come along, and you'll be able to sympathize with all poor souls who have to play gooseberry often.1915, Lucy Maud Montgomery, “In the Park”, in Anne of the Island
    Synonyms:
    do gooseberry

Questions about playing gooseberry

What is playing gooseberry the present participle and gerund of?
Playing gooseberry is the present participle and gerund of play gooseberry.

Words near playing gooseberry in the dictionary

  1. playing for love
  2. playing for time
  3. playing full
  4. playing games
  5. playing God
  6. playing gooseberry
  7. playing hardball
  8. playing havoc
  9. playing hell with
  10. playing hob with
  11. playing hooky

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: playing gooseberry (page history and authors); play gooseberry (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “playing gooseberry.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/playing_gooseberry. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.