cook someone's goose

Slang Dictionary

goose definition


  1. n.
    a silly oaf; an oaf. : Oh, I'm such a silly goose!
  2. tv.
    to (attempt to) poke something, such as a finger, in someone's anus. : Freddy tried to goose me!
  3. n.
    an attempt to goosesomeone. (As in sense 2.) : He tried to give me a goose.
  4. tv.
    to rev up an engine; to press down hard on the accelerator of a car. : Why don't you goose the thing and see how fast it'll go?
  5. n.
    an act of suddenly pressing down the accelerator of a car. : Give it a good goose and see what happens.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

cook someone's goose

Ruin someone, upset someone's plans. For example, He thinks he'll get away with stealing my idea, but I'm going to cook his goose. The origin of this phrase has been lost, but there are numerous fanciful theories; one concerns a besieged town that displayed a goose to show it had enough food, causing the attackers to set it on fire. The first recorded use of this colloquial phrase was in 1851.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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