See Also: wild goose(dictionary)
wild goose chase(dictionary)
Wild boar stew with wild mushrooms, chestnuts and chorizo(recipes)
Wild or Wild Card - Video Poker(gambling)
Goose(medicine)
goose(1)(dictionary)
goose(2)(dictionary)
goose(encyclopedia)
pea-goose(dictionary)
rat-goose(dictionary)

wild goose (iou)



wild goose noun & adjectival phr. . OE.
[from WILD adjective + GOOSE noun.]
A. noun phr.
Any of various undomesticated or feral geese; esp. (a) the greylag, Anser anser; (b) N. Amer. the Canada goose, Branta canadensis. OE.
fig.
a. A flighty or foolish person. L16.
b. Hist. In pl. (A nickname for) the Irish Jacobites who served as professional soldiers in Europe on the abdication of James II and later. M19.
b. attrib. or as adjectival phr. Wild, fantastic; foolish; fruitless. L18.
Comb.: wild-goose chase (a) rare a horse-race in which the second or any succeeding horse had to follow accurately the course of the leader, like a flight of wild geese; (b) orig., an erratic course taken by one person (or thing) and followed (or that may be followed) by another; now, a foolish, fruitless, or hopeless quest, a pursuit of something unattainable.