| 释义 |
▪ I. goose, n.|guːs|
Pl. geese |giːs|. Forms: sing. 1 gós, 3–6 gos(e, (4 guos, 5 goce), 4–7 goos, 5 ghoos, goys, (6 gosse, gouse), 6 Sc. guis(s, (guss, gwis), 6, 8–9 Sc. guse, 5– goose. pl. 1 gés, gees, 3 ges, 3–4 gies, (4 gyes, 6 giese), 3–5 gees, 4–5 geys(e, 6 Sc. geis(s)e, 4, 6 gese, (5 gess, ghees, 7 geose ?), 5– geese.
[Common Teut.: OE. gós (pl. gés) = Fris. gôs, gôz, MDu. (and Du.) gans, OHG. (MHG. and G.) gans, ON. gás (Sw. gås, Da. gaas):—OTeut. *gans- (cons.-stem):—OAryan *ghans-, whence L. anser (for *hanser), Gr. χήν, Skr. haṅsá masc., haṅsī́ fem., Lith. żąsìs, and OIr. géis swan. Connexion with gander is doubtful.]
1. a. A general name for the large web-footed birds of the sub-family Anserinæ (family Anatidæ), usually larger than a duck, and smaller than a swan, including Anser and several allied genera.
Without distinctive addition or context, the word is applied to the common tame goose (Anser domesticus), which is descended from the wild grey or greylag goose (A. ferus or cinereus). The other numerous species are distinguished by adjuncts expressing colour, appearance, or habits, as black goose, blue goose, blue-winged goose, laughing goose, pink-footed goose, white-fronted goose, etc.; habitat, as fen goose, marsh-goose, etc.; native region, as American (wild) goose, Canada goose, Chinese goose, etc. See also barnacle-, bean-, brent-goose, etc.
a1000Riddles xxv. 3 (Gr.) Hwilum ic græde swa gos. c1000Laws of Ine c. 70 (Schmid), x gees, xx henna. a1100Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 284/12 Anser uel ganra, hwit gos. Ganta uel auca, græᵹ gos. a1225Ancr. R. 128, & te valse ancre drauhð into hire hole & fret, ase þe uox deð, boðe ges & henhen. c1300Havelok 702 Hors, and swin..The gees, the hennes of the yerd. 1340Ayenb. 32 Þo anlikneþ..to þe childe þet ne dar naȝt guo his way uor þe guos þet blauþ. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. iv. 38 Bothe my gees and my grys his gadelynges fetten. c1386Chaucer Reeve's T. 217 This Millere..rosted hem a goos. c1420Liber Cocorum (1862) 32 Gose in a Hogge pot. 1489Caxton Faytes of A. ii. xxxvii. 157 Had not be the crye of the ghoos..the cite of rome shulde haue be dystroyed. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 222 Quhilk brocht with thame bayth guiss [and] gryce, and hen. 1604Extracts Aberd. Reg. (1848) II. 251 Puir folkis geir, sic as geisse, foullis, peittis, and vtheris vivaris. 1612Webster White Devil v. I 3, Mar. Those words Ile make thee answere With thy heart bloud. Fla. Doe, like the geesse in the progresse. 1728Pope Dunc. i. 211 Shall I..rob Rome's ancient geese of all their glories? 1766Pennant Zool. (1768) II. 450 The White Fronted Wild Goose. 1772Forster in Phil. Trans. LXII. 415 The blue goose is as big as the white goose; and the laughing goose is of the size of the Canada or small grey goose. 1857Livingstone Trav. xiv. 253 The Barotse valley contains great numbers of large black geese. 1859Darwin Orig. Spec. i. (1873) 28 The common goose has not given rise to any marked varieties. 1870Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 314 In the fens of Lincolnshire, geese are kept in large numbers. 1893Newton Dict. Birds 376 The largest living Goose is that called the Chinese, Guinea, or Swan-Goose, Cygnopsis cygnoides.
b. spec. The female bird: the male being the gander, and the young goslings.
c1220Bestiary 392 Ȝe feccheð ofte in ðe tun and te gandre and te gos. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 163 b, Columella would have you keepe for every Gander, three Geese. 1622[see 8, goose-fair]. 1692L'Estrange Fables ccxxii. 194 Why do you go Nodding, and Waggling so like a Fool, as if you were Hipshot? says the Goose to her Gosselin.
c. The flesh of this bird.
1533Elyot Cast. Helthe (1539) 30 Goose, is hard of digestion. 1726Brit. Apollo (ed. 3) II. 648 Who eats goose on Michael's day, Shan't money lack his debts to pay. 1786Mrs. Piozzi Anecd. of Johnson 103, I was saying to a friend one day, that I did not like goose; one smells it so while it is roasting, said I.
d. In phrases and proverbial sayings. all (his) geese are swans: he invariably exaggerates or over-estimates; so to turn geese into swans, every goose a swan. all right (or sound) on the goose: (U.S.) politically orthodox. the old woman is picking her geese: it is snowing. to cook (rarely do) one's goose (see cook v. 4 b). to say bo to a goose (see bo int. 2). to shoe the goose: to spend one's time in trifling or in unnecessary labour. goose without gravy: (Naut.) a bloodless flogging. gone goose: see gone ppl. a. 1. to kill the goose that laid or lays the golden eggs, to destroy a source of one's wealth by one's own heedless action; to sacrifice future advantage to the greed of the moment; also used allusively. See also gander 1 b.
14..Why I Can't be Nun 254 in E.E.P. (1862) 144 He schalle be put owte of company, And scho the gose. c1460Towneley Myst. ii. 84 Let furth youre geyse, the fox will preche. 1476Sir J. Paston in P. Lett. No. 777 III. 163 As for the Castell of Shene, ther is no mor in it but Colle and hys mak, and a goose may get it; but in no wyse I wold not that wey. [1484Caxton Esope (1967) 190 This fable sayth of a man whiche had a goos that leyd euery day an egge of gold.] 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 153 Steale a goose, and sticke downe a fether. Ibid. 186 A greene goose..is farre the swetter. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 31 Then may he go sue y⊇ goose, for house gets he none. 1589Pasquil's Ret. C, Euery Goose..must goe for a Swan, and whatsoeuer he speakes, must be Canonicall. 1589Lyly Pappe w. Hatchet III. 404 A man..had a goose, which euerie daie laid him a golden egge; hee..kild his goose, thinking to haue a mine of golde in her bellie, and finding nothing but dung..wisht his goose aliue. 1604Breton Grinello's Fort. (Grosart) 5/1 Yet I can doe something else, then shooe the Goose for my liuing. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. Democr. to Rdr. 39 All his Geese are swannes. 1622Mabbe tr. Alemans' Guzman d'Alf. 133 There is no more pitty to be taken of her then to see a goose goe bare-foote. 1624Bp. R. Montagu Gagg 90 With Catholikes euery Pismire is a Potentate; as euery Goose a Swan. 1640Wizard (MS.) (N.), He hath the goose by the neck. 1649Woodstock Scuffle xl. in Scott Woodst. App. to Introd., There's not a man..can say (Boh!)..to a goose. 1659Howell Proverbs 1 To steal a Goose, and give the giblets in almes. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v., Find fault with a Fat Goose, or without a Cause. 1692L'Estrange Fables cccii. 264 Sauce for a Goose is Sauce for a Gander. 1845J. R. Planché Golden Fleece i. 7 To save my bacon I must cook his goose! 1849C. K. Sharpe Let. 10 Sept., Corr. 1888 II. 597 [They] may be thankful that she did not ‘do their goose for them’, to use a vulgar phrase. 1856Mrs. S. Robinson Kansas (ed. 3) 252 All persons who could not answer ‘All right on the goose’, according to their definition of right, were..threatened with death. 1857Providence Jrnl. 18 June (Bartlett), To seek for political flaws is no use, His opponents will find he is ‘sound on the goose’. 1860Trollope Framley P. xlii, Chaldicotes..is a cooked goose, as far as Sowerby is concerned. 1862G. Dodd Where do We get It? ii. 103 The natives adopted a reckless way of cutting down the trees in order to obtain the sap; but they are now gradually accustoming themselves to a more economical method—they preserve the ‘goose that lays the golden eggs’. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Goose without gravy. 1884Sat. Rev. 5 July 25/1 The besetting temptation which leads local historians to turn geese into swans. 1887W. E. Norris Major & Minor v, If Brian had only known how immensely he had risen in her respect by the not very extraordinary display of talent and ability which he had just made, he would doubtless have hastened to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs by playing classical compositions till he wearied her. 1917Galsworthy Five Tales (1918) 77 You're getting a thousand a year out of my fees. Mistake to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. I'll make it twelve hundred. 1921T. R. St.-Johnston Islanders of Pacific 295 Even an insouciant native hesitates to kill the goose that lays his ‘golden eggs’, for the tapping of the crown is generally fatal to the palm-tree. 1923D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 207 Is that you, American Eagle? Or are you the goose that lays the golden egg? 1930A. E. Housman Let. 21 Mar. (1971) 293 On the one hand I must thank and congratulate you, but on the other you have cooked your own goose. 1935T. S. Eliot Murder in Cath. i. 25 Leave well alone, Or your goose may be cooked and eaten to the bone. 1946W. S. Maugham Then & Now xii. 71 ‘I can count on your discretion, Messer Niccolo? My life would be short if it were discovered that I have told you what I have.’ ‘I know. But I am not one to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.’ 1965Melody Maker 25 Sept. 20 Let's hope that promoters have learned from past experience and don't kill the geese that lay the golden pop eggs.
e. With allusion to the supposed stupidity of the goose.
1583Golding Calvin on Deut. xviii. 105/2 If his father let him haue his swindge lyke a goose: hee putteth the halter about his neck. 1584Fenner Def. Ministers (1587) 40 He would thinke vs more simple then a gosse, which will run from the Foxe. a1586Sidney Arcadia iii. (1633) 237 Where this goose (you see) puts downe his head, before there be any thing neere to touch him. 1780H. Cowley Belle's Stratagem v. i, I ha'n't slept to-night, for thinking of plots to plague Doricourt;—and they drove one another out of my head so quick, that I was as giddy as a goose, and could make nothing of 'em. 1818Scott Rob Roy xxvi, ‘A twa⁓leggit creature, wi' a goose's head and a hen's heart.’
f. Hence fig. A foolish person, a simpleton.
1547Homilies i. Agst. Contention ii. (1859) 138 Shall I stand still, like a goose or a fool, with my finger in my mouth? a1553Udall Royster D. iv. iii. (Arb.) 64 Go to you goose. 1588Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 19, I perceiue you will prooue a goose. 1624Bp. R. Montagu Gagg 327 Can this Goose gaggle against this? 1655Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 170 He did play the very Goose himselfe. 1807–8Syd. Smith Plymley's Lett., Catholics (ed. 11) 5, I have always told you from the time of our boyhood, that you were a bit of a goose. 1861Sat. Rev. 21 Sept. 303 If he was goose enough to be seriously and permanently angry at his wife having [etc.]. 1887R. N. Carey Uncle Max xiv. 110 What a goose I was to leave my muff behind me.
g. With allusion to the hissing noise made by the goose; esp. Theat. slang (see quots. 1805, 1865).
1805C. L. Lewes Mem. IV. 180 By some it is said the ‘goose’ is in the house. 1809Malkin Gil Blas ii. viii. ⁋5 [We] began hissing, to remind him of his first appearance at Madrid. The goose grated harsh upon his tympanum. 1865Slang Dict. s.v., ‘To get the goose’..signifies to be hissed while on the stage. 18..Tennyson in Mem. (1897) II. i. 14 [Requirements for blank verse]. A fine ear for vowel-sounds, and the kicking of the geese out of the boat (i.e. doing away with sibilations).
2. Applied with distinguishing prefix to certain other birds of the same or a related family, as Cape Barren goose (Cereopsis novæ-hollandiæ), Egyptian or Nile goose (Chenalopex ægyptiaca), spur-winged goose (the African genus Plectropterus), etc.; also to certain sea-birds like or likened to a true goose, as the solan-goose. Mother Carey's goose (see quot. 1772–84); sly goose (see quot. 1844).
1772–84Cook Voy. (1790) IV. 1272 Another sort, which is the largest of the petrels, and called by seamen, Mother Carey's goose, is found in abundance. 1843J. Backhouse Visit Austral. Col. vi. 75 Five Pelicans and some Cape Barren Geese, were upon the beach. 1844W. H. Maxwell Sports & Adv. Scotl. xxxvii. (1855) 293 The sheldrake..from its wide awake habits, acquiring the Orcadian sobriquet of the sly-goose. 1884Boldrewood Melb. Mem. II. 22 The pied goose..were our chief sport and sustenance.
†3. Winchester goose: a certain venereal disorder (sometimes simply a goose); also, a prostitute (see quot. 1778). Obs.
[1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, i. iii. 53 Winch. Gloster, thou wilt answere this before the Pope. Glost. Winchester Goose, I cry, a Rope, a Rope. 1606― Tr. & Cr. v. x. 55 My feare is this: Some galled Goose of Winchester would hisse.] 1598Florio s.v. Carolo. 1611 Cotgr., Clapoir, a botch in the Groyne, or yard; a winchester goose. 1630J. Taylor (Water-P.) Wks. i. 105/2 Then ther's a Goose that breeds at Winchester, And of all Geese, my mind is least to her. 1661Webster Cure for Cuckold F j a, This Informer..had belike some private dealings with her, and there got a Goose..This fellow in revenge for this, informs against the Bawd that kept the house. 1727Boyer Eng.–Fr. Dict., A Winchester Goose (or swelling in the Groin) un Poulain. 1778Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Southwark, In the times of popery here were no less than 18 houses on the Bankside, licensed by the Bishops of Winchester..to keep whores, who were, therefore, commonly called Winchester Geese.
4. † (game of) goose: A game played with counters on a board divided into compartments, in some of which a goose was depicted (obs.). [Cf. F. jeu de l'oie, Du. ganzenspel.] fox and geese (see fox n. 16 d); also one of the pieces in this game.
1597Stationers' Reg. 16 June (Arb.) III. 21 John Wolfe entered..the newe and most pleasant game of the goose. 1670G. H. Hist. Cardinals iii. iii. 294, I am like those who play at Goose. 1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 232 The Twelve Good Rules, the Royal Game of Goose. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. iv. ii. (1876) 418 To play this game [Fox and Geese] there are seventeen pieces, called geese. Ibid. 438 It is called the game of the goose, because at every fourth and fifth compartment in succession a goose is depicted, and if the cast thrown by the player falls upon a goose, he moves forward double the number of his throw.
allusively.1823Byron Juan xii. lviii, For good society is but a game, ‘The royal game of Goose’, as I may say.
5. a. A tailor's smoothing-iron. Pl. gooses.[So called from the resemblance of the handle to the shape of a goose's neck.] 1605Shakes. Macb. ii. iii. 17 Come in Taylor, here you may rost your Goose. 1607Dekker Knt.'s Conjur. (1842) 36 Euery man being armed with his sheeres and pressing iron, which he call's there his goose. a1680Butler Rem. (1759) II. 348 His Tongue is a kind of Taylor's Goose or hot Press, with which he sets the last Gloss upon his coarse decayed Wares. 1778Foote Trip Calais i. Wks. 1799 II. 342 It is the first I ever heard of a tailor's goose hissing! 1841J. T. J. Hewlett Parish Clerk I. 281 The seam being sewed up, he required the assistance of the goose to press it. 1881C. Gibbon Heart's Problem i. (1884) 5 Teddy spat on the goose to test its heat, then polished it vigorously, and began to iron the collar of a coat.
b. (See quot.)
1886Chester Gloss., Goose, hatting term, an implement used in the curling of hat brims.
6. dial. geese and goslings (cf. gosling 4).
1854A. E. Baker Northamptonsh. Gloss., Geese and Goslings, the blossoms of the salix; so denominated from the fancied resemblance to a young gosling newly hatched. 1866Treas. Bot. 543/1 Goose and Goslings, Orchis Morio. 1889Hurst Horsham Gloss., Geese and Goslins, the fully blown and half blown flowers of the willow.
7. attrib. and Comb.
a. attrib., as goose-breast, goose-down, goose-dung, goose-fat, goose-feather, goose-giblet, goose-head, goose-look, goose-pond, goose-tribe, goose-turd († also attrib. referring to colour; hence goose-turd-green), goose-yard; goose-like adj.
1891W. Morris in Mackail Life W. Morris (1899) II. 261 *Goose-breast colour. 1904Daily Chron. 19 Mar. 8/5 Smoked goose-breasts. 1963A. L. Simon Conc. Encycl. Gastron. vii. 565 Minced Goosebreast.
1866Howells Venet. Life xv. 208 A gentle snow-fall of *goose-down.
1710T. Fuller Pharm. Extemp. 52 Take..*Goose-dung..2 ounces.
1815Sixteen & Sixty ii. ii, Shut that damned ugly mouth instantly, or I'll stuff it with soap cerate and *goose-fat.
c1450ME. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 82 Take a *gose feþer, and do awey þe foom aboue. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 130 A sely poore gouse fether could not plese him to shoote wythal. 1820Scott Abbot xv, His lance is no goose-feather, as Dan's ribs can tell. 1539*gose gyblet [see hare n. 2]. 1599Porter Angry Wom. Abingt. (Percy Soc.) 40 Tis an olde prouerbe and a true, Goose giblets are good meate, olde sacke better then new.
a1605Montgomerie Misc. Poems x. 5 They get ay a good *goosheid In recompense of all thair pane.
1552Huloet, *Gose lyke, or pertayninge to a gose, anserinus.
1605Shakes. Macb. v. iii. 13 Thou cream-fac'd Loone: Where got'st thou that *Goose-looke.
1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. 197 A ducking in the *goose-pond.
1831Bonaparte A. Wilson's Amer. Ornith. IV. 341 Anas, or *Goose tribe.
1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 62 Bearyng no more rule, than a *goose turd in tems. 1610B. Jonson Alch. iv. ii, The citizens praise her tires, And my lord's goose-turd bands. 15..Will of C. White (Somerset Ho.), A gowne lyned of gosetourde grene. 1597Gerarde Herbal i. lxviii. §2. 94 Greenish yellow, or as we terme it, a goose turde greene.
1863Browning Ring & Bk. xi. 1195 A perfect *goose-yard cackle of complaint.
b. objective, as goose-crammer, goose-gagger, goose-stealer; goose-eating vbl. n.; goose-bearing, goose-chasing adjs.
1802Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) III. 438 The *Goose⁓bearing bernacle.
1596Harington Metam. Ajax (1814) 103, I love not to ride with these *goose-chasing youths.
1828Miss Mitford Village Ser. iii. (1863) 119 The Penge is almost peopled with duck-rearers and *goose-crammers.
1566Acc. in T. Sharp Cov. Myst. (1825) 214 Payd att the *gose etynge to the mynstrelles..xij d.
1624Bp. R. Montagu Gagg 281 Goe learn to speak and write, Sir giddy *Goose⁓gagger, and then vndertake to stop the Protestants mouthes.
1565–73Durham Depos. (Surtees) 104, I am neyther *goossteler nor steg steiler.
c. similative, as goose-gaggler; goose-footed, goose-green, goose-grey, goose-headed adjs.
1735Somerville Chase iv. 398 O'er yon dank rushy Marsh The sly *Goose-footed Proler bends his Course.
1624Bp. R. Montagu Gagg 190 And yet this giddy *Goose-gaggler must prate..against the Church of England.
1614B. Jonson Barth. Fair ii. i. Another [ballad] of *Goose-greene-starch, and the Deuill.
a1693Aubrey Lives, Sir W. Petty (1898) II. 145 His eies are a kind of *goose-grey.
1581N. Burne Disput. 187 b, Daft Abbotis..*guseheaddit Personis.
8. a. Special comb.: goose-barnacle = barnacle n.2 2; goose-beak, a name given to the dolphin from the shape of its snout (Cent. Dict.); goose-bone, a bone of a goose, esp. one used as a weather-guide; goose bumps N. Amer. = goose-flesh 2; goose-cart, a special cart for taking geese to market; goose-chase (see wild-goose-chase); goose-club, an association formed to provide the members with geese; † goose-cree (see quot. and crew n.2); goose dinner (see goose match); goose drownder U.S. dial. (see quot. 1969); goose-dung-ore Min., an impure iron sinter containing silver; goose-eye, a pattern used in weaving; goose-fair, a fair held in certain English towns (still at Nottingham) about Michaelmas, when geese are in season; goose-file = single or Indian file; goose-fish U.S., the angler or fishing-frog (Lophius piscatorius); goose game Cricket, very cautious play adopted by a batsman; goose-gamer, one who plays the goose game (these terms no longer current); † goose-gate [gate n.2 8], right of pasture for a goose; goose-gull, a local name of the greater black-backed gull (Larus marinus); goose liver = foie gras; goose man N.Z., one who operates a goose saw; goose match Cricket (see quots.); goose-mouth (see quot.); goose-mussel = barnacle n.2 2; goose-oven, a stove for heating a tailor's goose; goose-paddle v. trans. (nonce-wd.), to propel by paddling like a goose; † goose-pan Sc., app. a large stew-pan; † goose-par = goose-pen (a); goose-pen, (a) a pen or enclosure for geese; † (b) a quill pen; goose-pie, a pie made of goose, etc.; goose pimples = goose-flesh 2; goose-pudding (see quot. 1892); goose-riding (see quot. and cf. gander-pulling); goose-rump, in a horse, a croup or rump falling suddenly away to the tail; hence goose-rumped adj.; goose saw N.Z. (see quot. 1957); also ellipt.; goose-shot, a particular size of shot used for shooting wild geese; goose-silver-ore = goose-dung-ore (above); goose-teal, ‘the English name for a very small goose of the genus Nettopus’ (Morris Austral Eng. 1898); goose-trap, a trap for a ‘goose’, a quibble, sophism; also U.S., a swindle; goose-yoke U.S., a yoke to hamper the movements of a goose. Also goose-bill, goose-flesh, goose-grass, etc.
1726Brit. Apollo (ed. 3) II. 648 Just rose from picking of *goose-bones. 1886E. L. Bynner A. Surriage xxi. 231 My father used to say..there's no chance of a clearing when the wind backs round. Mother never heeds the wind; she goes by the goose-bone.
1933C. Miller Lamb in Bosom xi. 148 She rubbed down the skin of her arms and legs where *goose-bumps stood on every pore as though it were cold weather. 1968Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. XLIX. 17 Goose bumps..seems to be replacing both goose flesh and goose pimples. 1970Washington Post 30 Sept. D3/1, I no longer get goose⁓bumps before a game.
1895J. J. Raven Hist. Suffolk 242 To get the advantage of the later markets, a *goose-cart was invented, four stories high.
1895Sat. Rev. 17 Aug. 198/1 The cackling Cust..has fresh leisure for fresh *goose-chases.
1859Sala Gas-light & D. ii. 16 Turkeys from the country; *Goose Clubs in town.
1674Ray N.C. Words 134 A *Geose or Goose cree [mispr. Grose cree], a hut to put Geese in.
1929–33in Wentworth Amer. Dial. Dict., *Goose drownder. 1969Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 22 Aug. 4/6 Other two-word names for a heavy rain..are: bresh- or brush-mover, bridge⁓lifter, goose drownder, gully-washer, sand-packer, toad-strangler, and trash-mover.
1858Greg & Lettsom Min. 277 The mineral..*goose-dung ore, has been shown to be an impure variety of iron sinter.
1957Simpson & Weir Weaver's Craft (ed. 8) xii. 151 The patterns most generally used for tweeds are: 1. Twill... 4. Bird eye twill. 5. *Goose eye. 1960G. Lewis Handbk. Crafts 121 For this purpose [sc. variety] twill, goose-eye and rosepath are all excellent... Goose-eye with its diamond-shaped pattern is perhaps best employed in a rug made in one colour on a different-coloured warp.
1622Breton Str. Newes (Grosart) 7/1 No man must denie his neighbours Goose his Gander, for feare of wanting Goslings at *Goose Faire. 1970Daily Mail 3 Oct. 7/1 In Nottingham, stalls at the famous Goose Fair were overturned by a gale.
1876J. Grant Hist. India I. xlviii. 244/2 The old way had been the ‘Indian file’, following each other in succession (vulgarly called by the soldiers ‘*goose-file’).
1859Bartlett Dict. Amer., *Goose-fish. See Devil⁓fish. 1884–5Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) III. 295 The most common of the American names, ‘goose-fish’, alludes to its capacity to master and ingest the well-known bird in its capacious maw.
1899J. C. Snaith Willow the King xiv. 224 Don't play the *goose game. Hard slogging's the sort o' thing for Grace.
1928Daily Tel. 26 June 17/1 Jupp took four wickets for 37 runs. The batsmen would not go to fetch him, and nearly all of them are free players by inclination and habit. They are not good *goose-gamers.
1739Bewholm Inclos. Act 2 Each cottage..hath only one *goose-gate in the fallow field.
1885Swainson Prov. Names Birds 208 *Goose gull (Ireland).
1860Dickens in All Year Round 7 Apr. 560/1, I set him up in business in the *goose-liver line. 1958Catal. County Stores Taunton June 20 Goose Liver Purée with Truffles..a glass 3/9. 1967L. Deighton London Dossier 55 Sandwiches..with unusual fillings like game pâté, rillette, and goose liver.
1943J. A. W. Bennett in Amer. Speech XVIII. 85 The timber trade..has supplied a wide variety of occupational terms..*goose man (‘drag’ and ‘goose’ are various types of saw; cf. U.S. drag-saw). 1957N.Z. Timber Jrnl. July 49/1 Gooseman, the operator of a goose saw.
1885P. M. Thornton Harrow School xiv. 339 The *Goose Match is the last game of cricket played in the year at Harrow. A goose dinner follows. 1905H. A. Vachell Hill ii. 27 The Goose Match, the last cricket⁓match of the year, played between the Eleven and the Old Boys, on the nearest Saturday to Michaelmas Day. 1970Sunday Tel. 27 Sept. 29/8 He refers to the rained off Goose Match at Harrow, cancelled, he believes, for the first time in 165 years.
1879Leeds Mercury 9 May, The animal [a horse] had what was called a ‘*goose’ mouth.—His Honour: What is that?—Plaintiff: Lapping over like a hare.
1863Wood Nat. Hist. III. 646 The common *Goose-mussel or Duck-barnacle.
18775 Yrs.' Penal Servitude iii. 90 One man specially attends to the ‘*goose-oven’.
1845Jerrold St. Giles & St. James (1851) xxvi. 265 Whether the thing to be seen is a lord mayor's coach..or a zany on a river, *goose-paddled in a washing-tub, the sons of Adam will throng to the sight.
1420Inv. in Lincoln Chapter Acc. Bk. A. 2. 30. lf. 69, 1 *gose⁓panne. c1575Balfour Practicks (1754) 235 The air sall haue..ane mekle and litle pan, ane guse pan, ane frying pan [etc.].
1552Huloet, *Gose parre [sic; 1572 *gose penne], or coupe, or francke to feade gese in, chenoboscion.
1601Shakes. Twel. N. iii. ii. 53 Let there bee gaulle enough in thy inke, though thou write with a *Goose-pen.
1712–14Pope Rape Lock iv. 52 Here sighs a Jar, and there a *Goose-pie talks. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. vi, I never dispute your abilities at making a goose-pie.
1889Cent. Dict., *Goose-pimples, the pimples of goose-flesh. 1914Dialect Notes IV. 155 Don't stay in bathing so long that you're all goose-pimples when you come out. 1956L. Sieveking in Plays of Year XV. 255 'E ain't arf got a wicked fyce, 'asn't 'e. Makes one come out in goose-pimples to look at 'im. 1959Times 5 Nov. 14/6 A make-up man kept dodging forward to cover up goose-pimples on the bare shoulders of the two parasolled and picture-hatted belles.
1547Boorde Introd. Knowl. xxx. (1870) 199 & coppyd thinges standeth vpon theyr [women's] hed, within ther kerchers, lyke a codpece or a *gose-podynge. 1892Encycl. Cookery (ed. Garrett) I. 707 In some parts of England, especially in Yorkshire, the people prepare a pudding which they term..Goose Pudding, to be served with Goose.
1785Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue, *Goose-riding, a goose being suspended by the legs..a number of men on horseback riding full speed attempt to pull off the head, which, if they effect, the goose is their prize. This has been practised in Derbyshire within the memory of persons now living.
1696Lond. Gaz. No. 3202/4 Rid away with..a brown Mare..a Rose Tail, a *Goose Rump. 1799Sporting Mag. XIV. 185 The Goose-rump is..another angular infringement of Hogarth's curve of beauty.
1679Poor Robin's Intell. in Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 61 Sour headed, saddle backed, *goose rumped. 1836Penny Cycl. V. 307/1 The Belgian horses have a great defect in the form of their hips and in the croup, which falls suddenly towards the tail, which is called in England being goose⁓rumped.
1943J. A. W. Bennett in Amer. Speech XVIII. 85 [In New Zealand] ‘drag’ and ‘*goose’ are various types of saw; cf. U.S. drag-saw. 1950Landfall IV. 125 The planer..spits out faced boards for the tailer-out to stack by the goose saw. 1957Brit. Commonw. Forest Terminol. II. 163 Pendulum [saw], a crosscut circular saw mounted on a swinging arm and moved down to and across the timber to be sawn. Syn. Swing saw, Swinging crosscut saw, Goose saw (N.Z.).
a1659Cleveland Poems (1677) 129 So long as there is *Goose-shot to be had for Money. 1698Wallis in Phil. Trans. XX. 6 A Hole about the Bigness of a Goose⁓shot. 1789Amer. Museum V. 580 A major..received a wound in the cheek with a goose shot. 1898P. L. Ford Tattle-Tales Cupid 51 It passeth human intelligence how Freddy could inspire any sort of feeling except an intense longing for a gun loaded with goose-shot.
1776Seiferth tr. Gellert's Metal. Chym. 38 *Goose silver ore.
1610Healey St. Aug. Citie of God v. x. Vives' Comm. 212 And what vse is there of these *goose-traps [L. tricis illis et verborum laqueis]? 1799Aurora (Philad.) 31 Jan. (Th.), The gulls and goose-traps that have been sported for some time past all come from the shop in which the Washington Lottery wheels remain undrawn, and where a new goose-trap, the Amuskeag canal, was some time since hammered out.
1842C. M. Kirkland Forest Life I. 120 A variety store, offering for sale every possible article of merchandize, from lace gloves to *goose-yokes, ox-chains, [etc.]. 1863‘E. Kirke’ Southern Friends iii. 48 One half of it [sc. a building] was sparsely occupied with..fishhooks, log chains, goose yokes, etc. 1879B. F. Taylor Summer-Savory xvii. 138 And you find it, the variety store of a hundred years ago, where needles and crowbars, goose yokes and finger-rings, liquorice-stick and leather are to be had for cash or ‘dicker’. 1896J. C. Harris Sister Jane 2/3 Go show your grandmother how to make a goose-yoke.
b. In various plant-names, as † goose-bane = henbane; goose-bean, some Canadian plant; † goose-chite, agrimony (Agrimonia Eupatoria); goose-corn, (a) a kind of rush (Juncus squarrosus): (b) = goose-grass 4; † goose-hairif = goose-grass 2, hairif; † goose-nest, ? the bird's-nest (Neottia Nidus-avis); † goose-share [? corruption of -hairif] = goose-grass 2; goose-tansy = goose-grass1; goose-tongue, (a) sneezewort (Achillea Ptarmica); (b) = goose-grass 2; (c) a crowfoot (Ranunculus Flammula); goose-tree, the tree from which barnacle-geese were believed to be produced (cf. barnacle n.2 1 note); goose-weed = goose-grass 1; goose-wheat (see quot.).
1600Surflet Countrie Farme i. xvi. 108 [He] may keepe them [geese]..from feeding of henbane, which some call the *goosebane.
1848Selby in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. No. 6. 262 Specimens of the *Goose-bean of Canada.
1597Gerarde Herbal Suppl., *Goosechite is Agrimonie.
1762W. Hudson Flora Angl. 130 Juncus culmo nudo,..Moss-rush or *Goose⁓corn. 1776Withering Brit. Plants I. 211 Juncus squarrosus..Goose Corn. 1808Jamieson, Goose-corn, Field Brome⁓grass, Bromus secalinus, Linn.
1551Turner Herbal i. D iiij, *Goosharethe called also Clyuer..is named in Greeke, Aparine. 1579Langham Gard. Health (1633) 290 Goose⁓heirife or Cleuer.
1578Lyte Dodoens ii. lvii. 224 Some Herborists..because that the rootes be so tangled and wrapped like to a nest, have named it *Goosenest. 1605Timme Quersit. i. xiii. 65 Double leafe, otherwise called goosenest.
1578Lyte Dodoens iv. lxiv. 539 This herbe is called..in Englishe, Goosegrasse, Cliuer, and *Gooseshare.
1579Langham Gard. Health (1633) 629 Drinke the iuyce of Tansie, and *Goosetansie. 1691[see goose-grass 1]. 1776Withering Brit. Plants I. 307 Potentilla Anserina..Goose-tansey.
1738G. C. Deering Catal. Stirp. 179 Ptarmica..Sneezewort..by some called *Goose Tongue. 1744–50W. Ellis Mod. Husbandm. III. i. 114 (E.D.S.) The goose-tongue herb grows chiefly in marshy grounds. a1824Holdich Weeds (1825) 14 Hariff (Galium aparine)..Goosetongue.
1597Gerarde Herbal iii. clxvii. 1391 Of the *Goose tree, Barnakle tree, or the tree bearing Geese.
1865W. White E. Eng. II. 62 Broad margins of grass and *goose⁓weed. 1883Longm. Mag. July 307 The trailing silverweed or gooseweed of our English roadsides.
1897Daily News 10 Sept. 8/3 An inferior grain (used for chicken food mostly) called *goosewheat—a bearded variety, hardy and early.
Hence (nonce-wds.) † ˈgoosedom, stupidity; ˈgoosehood, the fact of being a goose; ˈgooseless a., without a goose; ˈgooseship, a mock title.
1647Ward Simp. Cobler 27 The gut-foundred goosdom, wherewith they are now surcingled and debauched. 1832Whistle-Binkie (Scot. Songs) (1890) I. 113 Any gooseless gander. 1837Fraser's Mag. XVI. 311 His Gooseship, the Right Dull of London. 1865Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xviii. vii. (1872) VII. 225 Goosehood became too apparent. 1888Harper's Mag. Dec. 158/1 The bestowal of turkeys upon the turkeyless and geese upon the gooseless.
▪ II. goose, v.|guːs|
[f. goose n.]
1. trans. To press or iron with a tailor's ‘goose’.
1808Jamieson, To Goose, to iron linen cloths, S., a word now nearly obsolete. 1859Ramsay Remin. 189 To prepare them [her caps] for being ironed, or, as she said, to make them ready to be goosed.
2. Theat. slang. To hiss, to express disapproval of (a person or play) by hissing. (Cf. goose n. 1 g.)
1838Actors by Daylight 31 Mar. 35 In every scene, O! think of me! And may they goose thee, when you die! 1853Househ. Words 24 Sept. 77/1 Actors speak of..such and such a tragedy being ‘damned’ or ‘goosed’. 1854Dickens Hard T. i. vi, He was goosed last night, he was goosed the night before last, he was goosed to-day. He has lately got in the way of being always goosed, and he can't stand it. 1866St. James's Mag. XVI. 69, I tired of the stage, however, although I was never ‘goosed’ in my life.
3. U.S. (See quots.)
1859Bartlett Dict. Amer., To Goose Boots, to repair them by putting on a new front half way up, and a new bottom. 1889Barrère & Leland Slang (1897), Goose..(American) to enlarge or repair boots, by a process generally known as footing, i.e. by putting in or adding pieces of leather.
4. slang. To make a ‘goose’ of, befool.
1889in Barrère & Leland Slang (1897).
5. slang. To poke, tickle, etc., (a person) in a sensitive part, esp. the genital or anal regions; sometimes, more specifically, = fuck v. 1.
1879–80Pearl (1970) 257, I don't like to see vulgar girls in the town Pull their clothes up, and stand to be goosed for a crown. 1881F. Griffin in J. R. Ackerley My Father & Myself (1968) xvii. 200 As soon as..I had learned the goose-step, I had learned to be goosed. 1906Dialect Notes III. 138 Goose, to create nervous excitement in a person by pointing a finger at him or by touching or tickling him and making a peculiar whistle. 1932J. Farrell Studs Lonigan (1936) 106 Paulie slapped Denny's face. Denny bawled... Paulie goosed him. Denny squirmed. 1943M. Shulman Barefoot Boy with Cheek x. 99 As she was bending over her work-table.., a playful lab assistant goosed her. 1959W. Burroughs Naked Lunch 82 Boys..goose each other at the peep show. 1960I. Wallach Absence of Cello (1961) 109 Elliot..lightly kissed the top of her head. It would be vulgar to say that she leaped as though goosed, but truth can survive anything including vulgarity. 1965G. McInnes Road to Gundagai vi. 111 He used to..urge them up the rope with a little skilful goosing. 1967Partridge Dict. Slang Suppl. 1152/2 Goose, the predominant post-World War II meaning is ‘to jab a finger in ano, in order to surprise or annoy’.
6. slang. Only in passive: to be finished, ruined.
1928Sunday Dispatch 5 Aug. 3/2 We were just about goosed with nothing to think about when our football news supply began and put new life into us. 1959‘J. Welcome’ Stop at Nothing viii. 127 If I've guessed wrong and Jason has found out right, then we're goosed.
Hence ˈgoosing vbl. n.; also attrib.
1825Jamieson, Gusing-irne, a smoothing iron, a Gipsey term, South of S. 1862Illustr. Lond. News 18 Jan. 75/1 ‘Goosing’..appears to have been the fate of lively M. Edmond About's last new play.
▸ trans. slang. (orig. and chiefly U.S.). a. To goad, spur, or provoke (someone).
1934L. Berg Prison Nurse vi. 75 That makes me one up on you! I ‘goosed’ him first that time! 1941H. A. Smith Low Man vi. 57, I like to goose the people a little and see how they'll react. 1959E. Hunter Matter of Conviction x. 171, I guess your beating finally goosed the police into action. 1982L. Olivier Confessions of Actor ii. v. 83, I had the greatest misgivings about the offer. William Wyler, the most prestigious of Hollywood film directors, had..come over to goose me into it. 1990Newsweek 16 July 57/2 While the chains were goosing the independent booksellers into a more competitive posture..they simultaneously provoked similar shifts in the world of publishing.
b. To feed short bursts of fuel to (an engine or vehicle) using the accelerator or throttle; to employ (the accelerator or throttle) in order to accelerate a vehicle or rev an engine; to accelerate (a vehicle). Also intr. Occas. with up.
1940H. E. Hartney Up & at 'Em xv. 257 A lone Spad came in with the pilot goosing his engine and causing a terrific racket. 1956T. Anderson Your own Beloved Sons iii. 55 Outside sounded the gasket-tearing whine of a jeep being started and goosed. 1974J. Millard Thunderbolt & Lightfoot iii. 19 The dumb-ass salesman handed me the key, told me to goose it up good, then stepped away. 1980L. N. Smith Venus Belt 12 in J. E. Lighter Hist. Dict. Amer. Slang (1994) I. 937/1, I reprogrammed the Neova and goosed up to a safe and proper hundred and ten. 1989T. Clancy Clear & Present Danger xxix. 645 ‘Next stop, Venezuela,’ Larson said as he goosed the throttles.
c. To increase the quantity, size, amount, etc., of. Also with up.
1949G. S. Coffin Fortune Poker App. D. 179 Goose, to raise [a bet]. 1981Japan Econ. Jrnl. (Nexis) 26 May 23 Some U.S. banks goosed up their prime rates just when Kabutocho finally convinced itself that interest rates had peaked. 1995Entertainm. Weekly 25 Aug. 97/1 N.Y.U. executive producer Dick Wolf goosed the ratings for his Law & Order by adding strong female characters.
d. To enliven or jazz up. Freq. with up.
1970S. Terkel Hard Times 188, I thought, to goose up the magazine, I would take photographs of people at my own home. 1977Washington Post (Nexis) 11 Nov. (Weekend Suppl.) 11 Italian animator Bruno Bezzetto..has goosed up the humor with a little more cruelty and a little more sex. 2000Times 3 Aug. ii. 8/5, I would be caught up in my urban alienation novel..when, almost to the second, his own crude working of the same theme, goosed up with modish apocalyptic concerns, arrived. |