Log in or Sign up

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A flock of geese. See Synonyms at flock1.
  2. n. A cluster or group: "A gaggle of photographers huddled on the sidewalk beside a swelling crowd of onlookers” ( Gioia Diliberto).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To make a noise like a goose; cackle.
  2. n. In fowling, a flight or flock of geese; hence, a chattering company.
  3. n. Synonyms Covey, etc. See flock.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A group of geese when they are on the ground or on the water.
  2. n. Any group or gathering of related things; bunch.
  3. v. To cackle (like geese)

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To make a noise like a goose; to cackle.
  2. n. A flock of wild geese, especially when on the ground.
  3. n. A gathering of people, especially a noisy one.
  4. n. Any clustered group of related objects.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. make a noise characteristic of a goose
  2. n. a flock of geese

Etymologies

  1. Middle English gagel, from gagelen, to cackle, probably of imitative origin.

Examples

  • “That happened just a few moments ago in what we call the gaggle this morning with White House Press Secretary Tony Snow.”

    CNN Transcript Jul 31, 2007

  • “It was about 11: 05 this morning, while while we were asking questions of Mr. Fleischer -- as we always do in the morning -- what we call the gaggle -- Gordon Johndroe, who is an assistant who works for Mr. Fleischer, came in and handed him a Post-it note it, and on that note it said, We must evacuate this section of the West Wing.”

    CNN Transcript Jul 12, 2001

  • “If this gaggle is key to anything, it's doomed from the start!”

    Are Americans paying attention to health care debate?

  • “The press corps is often referred to as a gaggle, as in a “gaggle of geese,” but that hardly conveys the strange divide between the press and the “principal.””

    Simon & Schuster: Spoken from the Heart

  • “He spent several days haunting the meadow where his friend found the dead honker, hoping it was part of a flock or a gaggle or whatever the English word for a group of honkers was.”

    The Year's Best Science Fiction 23rd Annual Collection

  • “Suzanne Malveaux, you are in what the reporters call the gaggle, which is an off-camera briefing between the White House public relations arm and reporters every morning.”

    CNN Transcript Oct 27, 2005

  • “The gods must be crazy, but a gaggle from the Greek pantheon are also having a disco-fueled, quip-filled blast in "Xanadu," the camp-tastic Broadway musical that just whisked into the Paramount Theatre on roller skates for a short touring run.”

    The Seattle Times

  • “In March 1990 she called a gaggle of historians to Chequers to discuss the German character, or rather the likely ambitions and governing style of a united nation.”

    Top stories from Times Online

  • “Better than talking about what a FREAK SHOW the gaggle is gonna be? we’ll see.”

    Think Progress » VIDEO: Snow Says He Regrets Criticizing Bush

  • “The trouble for Kenowa is that it's not his battle-tested and legendary band of brothers, but the Bad News Bears version, a rag-tag gaggle of misfits from every corner of Her Majesty's Empire ... and Kenowa is second-in-command behind a prince with little skill or charisma.”

    Rabid Reads: "A Darkness Forged in Fire" by Chris Evans

Show 10 more examples...

Log in or sign up to add your own related words.

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘gaggle’.

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • alexscampie Gaggle is also an Orcadian dialect word used when 1) you make a mess or 2) you work clumsily or carelessly. Jul 1, 2009

‘gaggle’ has been looked up 1640 times, loved by 4 people, added to 41 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 9.