5. A game played with counters on a board divided into compartments, in
some of which a goose was depicted.
The pictures placed for ornament and use, The twelve good rules,
the royal game of goose.
Goldsmith.
A wild goose chase, an attempt to accomplish something impossible or
unlikely of attainment. -- Fen goose. See under Fen. -- Goose barnacle
(Zoˆl.), any pedunculated barnacle of the genus Anatifa or Lepas; --
called also duck barnacle. See Barnacle, and Cirripedia. -- Goose cap,
a silly person. [Obs.] Beau. & . -- Goose corn (Bot.), a coarse kind of
rush (Juncus squarrosus). -- Goose feast, Michaelmas. [Colloq. Eng.] --
Goose flesh, a peculiar roughness of the skin produced by cold or fear;
-- called also goose skin. -- Goose grass. (Bot.) (a) A plant of the
genus Galium (G. Aparine), a favorite food of geese; -- called also
catchweed and cleavers. (b) A species of knotgrass (Polygonum
aviculare). (c) The annual spear grass (Poa annua). -- Goose neck,
anything, as a rod of iron or a pipe, curved like the neck of a goose;
specially (Naut.), an iron hook connecting a spar with a mast. -- Goose
quill, a large feather or quill of a goose; also, a pen made from it.
-- Goose skin. See Goose flesh, above. -- Goose tongue (Bot.), a
composite plant (Achillea ptarmica), growing wild in the British
islands. -- Sea goose. (Zoˆl.) See Phalarope. -- Solan goose. (Zoˆl.)
See Gannet.
Goose"ber*ry (?), n.; pl. Gooseberries (#), [Corrupted for groseberry
or groiseberry, fr. OF. groisele, F. groseille, -- of German origin;
cf. G. krausbeere, kr‰uselbeere (fr. kraus crisp), D. kruisbes,
kruisbezie (as if crossberry, fr. kruis cross; for kroesbes,
kroesbezie, fr. kroes crisp), Sw. krusb‰r (fr. krus, krusing, crisp).
The first part of the word is perh. akin to E. curl. Cf. Grossular, a.]
1. (Bot.) Any thorny shrub of the genus Ribes; also, the edible berries
of such shrub. There are several species, of which Ribes Grossularia is
the one commonly cultivated.