gander — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A male goose.

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Ganders and geese are at their best for stock from two to ten years old. They live to a great age—it is stated to thirty or more years—but after ten years they cannot be reckoned upon as reliable assets on a farm. Two years old is the best age to mate them, making up pens of a gander and two or three geese at the New Year. It is difficult sometimes to distinguish ganders from geese. A practical man is, however, rarely mistaken.

   Old Mother Goose / When she wanted to wander / Would ride through the air / On a very fine gander.

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   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.

   Usage

   • Informal

   Examples

   Have a gander at what he’s written.

   I took a gander and she seemed so familiar.

   More examples (1)

   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. A man living apart from his wife.

   Usage

   • US usage

Verb

1. to ramble, wander

   Usage

   • dialectal
   • Intransitive

Noun

1. mature male goose

   Broader terms

   goose