goose (redirected from geese)

*goose bumps and *goose pimples

Fig. a prickly feeling related to having bumps on one's skin due to fear, excitement, or cold. (*Typically: get ~ have ~ give someone ∼.) When I hear that old song, I get goose bumps. I never have goose pimples, but my teeth chatter when it's cold.

See also: bump

*silly as a goose

very foolish. (*Also: as ~.) Edith is as silly as a goose. She thinks that reading aloud to her house-plants will help them grow. The ad in the newspaper said this lotion would make my hair grow back, but I've been using it for a whole month and my hair is still the same. Jane: You're as silly as a goose! Do you believe everything you read in newspaper ads?

See also: silly

(a) gone goose

someone or something that has departed or run away. Surely, the burglar is a gone goose by now. The child was a gone goose, and we did not know where to look for him.

See also: gone

can't say boo to a goose

Rur. shy and not talkative. I was surprised to see Joe so talkative at the party. Usually he can't say boo to a goose. She's a quiet little kid. Can't say boo to a goose.

See also: boo, say

cook someone's goose

Fig. to damage or ruin someone. I cooked my own goose by not showing up on time. Sally cooked Bob's goose for treating her the way he did.

See also: cook

goose egg 

1. Fig. a raised bump on the skull as when one's head has been struck. I walked into the edge of the door and got a terrible goose egg.

2. Fig. in a sports score, zero. At the end of the game there was nothing but goose eggs next to our name.

See also: egg

Kill the goose that lays the golden egg(s).

Prov. To destroy something that is profitable to you. Fred's wife knew he wasn't happy in his job, even though it paid well; still, she felt that advising him to leave it would be killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.

See also: egg, golden, kill, lay

one's goose is cooked

one is finished; one has been found out and is in trouble. It's over. His goose is cooked! If I get caught, my goose is cooked.

See also: cooke

send someone on a wild-goose chase

Fig. to send someone on a pointless or futile search. You sent me on a wild-goose chase! There are no straw hats for sale anywhere in town! Fred was sent on a wild-goose chase while his friends prepared a surprise party for him.

See also: chase, send

What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Prov. What is good for one person is good for another.; What is good for the man in a couple is good for the woman. Jane: You're overweight; you should get more exercise. Alan: But I don't really have time to exercise. Jane: When I was overweight, you told me to exercise; what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

See also: gander, sauce

wild-goose chase

a worthless hunt or chase; a futile pursuit. I wasted all afternoon on a wild-goose chase. John was angry because he was sent out on a wild-goose chase.

See also: chase

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a wild-goose chase

a situation where you waste time looking for something that you are not going to find, either because that thing does not exist or because you have been given wrong information about it After two hours spent wandering in the snow, I realised we were on a wild-goose chase. When I found out that there was no Anita Hill at the university, I began to suspect that I had been sent on a wild-goose chase.

See also: chase

cook somebody's goose  (informal)

if you cook someone's goose, you do something that spoils their plans and prevents them from succeeding Disgruntled employees cooked Blackledge's goose by leaking private documents to the press.

See also: cook

kill the goose that lays the golden egg

to destroy something that makes a lot of money If you sell your shares now, you could be killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

See also: egg, golden, kill, lay

What's sauce for the goose (is sauce for the gander).  (British, American & Australian old-fashioned) also What's good for the goose (is good for the gander). (American & Australian old-fashioned)

something that you say to suggest that if a particular type of behaviour is acceptable for one person, it should also be acceptable for another person If your husband can go out with his friends, then surely you can go out with yours. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

See cook goose, kill the goose that lays the golden egg

See also: sauce

wouldn't say boo to a goose  (British informal) also wouldn't say boo/wouldn't say boo to a fly (American/Australian informal/informal)

if someone wouldn't say boo to a goose, they are shy and nervous She wouldn't say boo to a goose, so I don't think she's cut out for a career in the police. I remember her as a quiet little girl who wouldn't say boo.

See also: boo, say