gander

noun
/ˈɡæn.də(ɹ)/UK/ˈɡæn.dɚ/US

Etymology

From Middle English gandre, from Old English gandra, ganra (“gander”), from Proto-West Germanic *ganʀō, from Proto-Germanic *ganzô (“gander”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰh₂éns (“goose”). The meaning "a look" is derived from the image of craning one's neck like a goose. Cognates Cognate with Dutch gander (“gander”), Low German Gander, Ganner (“gander”), dialectal German Gandert (“gander”), German Ganter (“gander”), Norwegian gasse (“gander”), Icelandic gassi (“gander”). Compare also Lithuanian gañdras (“stork”). Related to goose, gannet.

  1. derived from *ǵʰh₂éns
  2. inherited from *ganzô
  3. inherited from *ganʀō
  4. inherited from gandra
  5. inherited from gandre

Definitions

  1. A male goose.

    • Old Mother Goose / When she wanted to wander / Would ride through the air / On a very fine gander.
    • Marta's gander was a magnificent snow-white bird: the object of terror to foxes, children and dogs. She had reared him as a gosling; and whenever he approached, he would let fly a low contented burble and sidle his neck around her thighs.
  2. A fool, simpleton.

  3. A glance, look.

    • Have a gander at what he’s written.
    • I took a gander and she seemed so familiar.
    • As well as the church and its sexton, the market house is worth a gander, while the hop fields and orchards are "reminding one of Kent", for we are in another "Garden of England".
  4. + 4 more definitions
    1. A man living apart from his wife.

    2. to ramble, wander

    3. A surname.

    4. A town in Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for gander. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA