goose

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“
After all, what's sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander, as the saying goes.

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Definitions (89)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (9)

  1. noun Any of various wild or domesticated water birds of the family Anatidae, and especially of the genera Anser and Branta, characteristically having a shorter neck than that of a swan and a shorter, more pointed bill than that of a duck.
  2. noun The female of such a bird.
  3. noun The flesh of such a bird used as food.
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Examples (50)

  • The Jovians formed their own secret alliance with the TBSA, and the Pax soon learned that what's good for the goose is also good for the gander: taxes and tariffs on Pax vessels working the outer system. —  Steele, Allen - [Near-Space 05] - A King of Infinite Space
  • My views on religion are WAY too extreme and I might get ushered outta here pretty quick. here, as the goose is the female, and the gander is the male. —  TalkLeft
  • What's sauce for the goose is definitely not sauce for the gander - or, in this case, for the turkey. —  Gates of Vienna
  • What's good for the goose is good for the gander and homeowners walking away from homes is a GOOD BUSINESS decision. —  Propeller Most Popular Stories
  • Given the animal rights movement's goal to increase the moral circle to include higher animals, and given that a strong scientific case can be made in favour of animal personhood, a time will come for humanity to conclude that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. —  Biology in Science Fiction
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

duck ·  turkey ·  fowl ·  pigeon ·  swan ·  chicken ·  rabbit ·  deer ·  goat ·  hen ·  lamb ·  owl

Used in the same contextWord Family

goose:   geese
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English goos, from Old English gōs; see ghans- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also gooce, gose, Scots guse; from Middle English goos, gos (plural gees, ges), (Anglo-Saxon gōs (plural gēs) = Dutch gans = Middle Low German gōs, gūs, Low German gos, gas, gaus (plural göse) = Old High German gans, cans, Middle High German G. gans = Icelandic gās = Swedish gås = Danish gaas = Gothic (Moesogothic) *gans (not recorded, but inferred from the derived Spanish ganso, masculine, gansa, feminine: see ganza) = Latin ans-er (orig. *hans-er) = Greek χήν (orig. *χενς?) = Old Bulgarian gãsi = Slov. gōs = Servian diminutive guska = Bohemian hus = Polish gẽs = Little Russian hus = Russian gusŭ = Lithuanian zansis, zãsis — Lettish zoss = Sanskrit hansa (later Hindustani hans), a goose. Irish goss is of English origin. The -s seems to be merely formative, the stem gan-appearing in the related words gander and gannet, q. v. As to the use of goose for a tailors' smoothing-iron, cf. German gans, a lump of melted iron, the term being used like the equivalent English pig and sow; the equivalent F. gueuse (whence apparently Swedish gös, or perhaps from Swedish gös?) is a different word. Ill-judged attempts have been made to derive goose, in the sense of ‘a silly person,’ from another source, on the ground that the popular notion as to the stupidity of the bird is erroneous, “it being only ignorance of the darkest hue that ventures to portray the goose as deficient in sagacity or intelligence” (Cornhill Mag., VIII. 203); but popular notions are often based on ignorance. Hence gooseling, gosling, goshawk.
  2. from goose, n.
 

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