goose / goōs/ • n. (pl. geese / gēs/ ) 1. a large waterbird (esp. the genera Anser and Branta), with a long neck, short legs, webbed feet, and a short broad bill. Generally geese are larger than ducks and have longer necks and shorter bills. ∎  the female of such a bird. ∎  the flesh of a goose as food. 2. inf. a foolish person. • v. [tr.] inf. 1. poke (someone) between the buttocks. 2. give (something) a boost; invigorate; increase: goosing up ticket sales.PHRASES: cook someone's goosesee cook.ORIGIN: Old English gōs, of Germanic origin.

goose the goose is proverbially contrasted with the swan as being the clumsier, less elegant, and less distinguished bird; it is also traditionally taken as a type of stupidity and folly.

A goose is the emblem of St Werburga, a Mercian princess and nun (d. c.700), who in her legend is said to have brought a goose back to life, St Bridget of Ireland, and St Martin of Tours.
goose-girl a girl employed to tend geese, in fairy stories the type of the peasant girl who marries a prince.
goose-step a military marching step in which the legs are not bent at the knee, especially associated with German militarism.

See also geese, golden goose, kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, Mother Gooseat mother, what's sauce for the goose, wild goose chase.

GOOSE

The barburim avusim (av, jps "fatted fowl") included among the daily provision for Solomon's table (i Kings 5:3) have been identified with the goose, the word barbur being explained as derived from bar ("pure," "white"), and avus ("fattened"). Some, however, identify barburim ("swans" in modern Heb.) with hens (bm 86b) or with a variety of fowl that came from Barbaria, that is North Africa (Eccl. R. 2:7). The breeding of geese in Ereẓ Israel is extremely old, a picture of them being fattened having been preserved on a ninth-century b.c.e. ivory tablet found in excavations at Megiddo. In ancient Egypt geese were extensively bred and fattened. The Mishnah mentions goose breeding (Shab. 24:3; Ḥul. 12: 1), and a distinction was made between the wild and the domesticated goose (tj, bk 5: 10, 5a: tb, bk 55a). According to folklore, "if a man sees a goose in a dream, he may hope for wisdom" (Ber. 57a).

bibliography:

F.S. Bodenheimer, Animal and Man in Bible Lands (1960), index, s.v.Anser; J. Feliks, Kilei Zeta'im ve-Harkavah (1967), 133–4.

[Jehuda Feliks]

goose Widely distributed waterfowl, related to the duck and swan. Geese have blunt bills, long necks, shortish legs, webbed feet and, in the wild, a combination of grey, brown, black and white dense plumage underlaid by down. They live near fresh or brackish water and spend time on land, grazing on meadow grasses. Wild geese breed in colonies, mate for life, and build grass-and-twig, down-lined nests for 3–12 eggs. They migrate in summer, flying in skeins in V-formation. There are 14 species. Weight: 1.4–5.9kg (3–13lb). Family Anatidae.

goose Domesticated water‐fowl, Anser anser. A 150‐g portion is a rich source of protein, iron, vitamins B₂, B₆, B₁₂, and niacin; a good source of vitamin B₁, copper, and zinc; contains more than 30 g of fat, of which one‐third is saturated; supplies 470 kcal (1970  kJ).