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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Goose \Goose\ (g[=oo]s), noun; pl. {Geese} (g[=e]s). [OE. gos, AS. g[=o]s, pl. g[=e]s; akin to D. & G. gans, Icel. g[=a]s, Dan. gaas, Sw. g[*a]s, Russ. guse. OIr. geiss, L. anser, for hanser, Gr. chh'n, Skr. ha[.m]sa. [root]233. Cf. {Gander}, {Gannet}, {Ganza}, {Gosling}.] (Zo["o]l.)
1. Any large web-footen bird of the subfamily {Anserin[ae]}, 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 [AE]gyptiaca}) and the African spur-winged geese ({Plectropterus}) belong to the family {Plectropterid[ae]}. The Australian semipalmated goose ({Anseranas semipalmata}) and Cape Barren goose ({Cereopsis Nov[ae]-Hollandi[ae]}) 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. --Goldsmith.
{A wild goose chase}, an attempt to accomplish something impossible or unlikely of attainment.
{Fen goose}. See under {Fen}.
{Goose barnacle} (Zo["o]l.), any pedunculated barnacle of the genus {Anatifa} or {Lepas}; -- called also {duck barnacle}. See {Barnacle}, and {Cirripedia}.
{Goose cap}, a silly person. [Obs.] --Beau. & .
{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}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Phalarope}.
{Solan goose}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Gannet}.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
goose
noun
1: web-footed long-necked typically gregarious migratory aquatic birds usually larger and less aquatic than ducks
2: a man who is a stupid incompetent fool [syn: {fathead}, {goof}, {goofball}, {bozo}, {jackass}, {cuckoo}, {twat}, {zany}]
3: flesh of a goose (domestic or wild) [also: {geese} (pl)]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
68 Moby Thesaurus words for "goose": Bantam, Cornish hen, banty, barn-door fowl, barnyard fowl, biddy, broiler, brooder, broody hen, caille, canard, caneton, capon, chanticleer, chapon, chick, chickabiddy, chicken, chicky, cock, cockerel, dindon, domestic fowl, drake, duck, duckling, dunghill fowl, faisan, fowl, fryer, game fowl, gander, gobbler, gosling, grouse, guinea cock, guinea fowl, guinea hen, hen, hen turkey, oie, partlet, partridge, pheasant, pigeon, pigeonneau, poulard, poulet, poult, poultry, pullet, quail, roaster, rooster, setting hen, silly, silly Billy, silly ass, spring chicken, squab, stewing chicken, tom, tom turkey, turkey, turkey gobbler, turkey-cock, volaille, wild duck
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
GOOSE, noun A bird that supplies quills for writing. These, by some occult process of nature, are penetrated and suffused with various degrees of the bird's intellectual energies and emotional character, so that when inked and drawn mechanically across paper by a person called an "author," there results a very fair and accurate transcript of the fowl's thought and feeling. The difference in geese, as discovered by this ingenious method, is considerable: many are found to have only trivial and insignificant powers, but some are seen to be very great geese indeed.
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