Gooses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. To move or proceed; to increase, enhance, or stimulate; to strike or poke in a playful or teasing manner
2. To travel from one place to another; to elevate or boost something in a positive way; to touch someone in a humorous or mischievous way
3. To advance in movement or action; to heighten or intensify an effect; to poke or jolt someone in a light-hearted fashion

Etymology: The form "gooses" is simply the third-person singular of the verb "to goose", meaning to poke someone from behind, which is a later extension of the noun. The noun "goose" traces back a very long way. Its ancestor, reconstructed for Proto-Indo-European, was something like "ǵʰh₂éns, and the same root gave Latin "ānser", Ancient Greek "khḗn" and Sanskrit "haṃsá", so the bird's name is one of the oldest shared words across a wide swath of Eurasian languages. Within Germanic, the word developed into Proto-Germanic ""gansaz" and then Old English "gōs", which became Middle English "gos" and later "goose". Its relatives survive across the family: German "Gans", Dutch "gans", Swedish and Danish "gås", and Icelandic "gæs". English "goose" is therefore a native word, not a borrowing. The tailor's iron, a flatiron with a handle shaped like a bird's neck, got its name from the resemblance, a small example of the same bird word being applied to a tool.