gaggle
gaggle Lexical Profile
gaggle Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A disorderly, noisy, or tightly clustered group of people or things.
"A gaggle of reporters waited outside the courthouse for the verdict to be announced."
A flock of geese, especially when on the ground or in the water rather than in flight.
"A noisy gaggle of geese waddled across the park path toward the pond."
American An informal press briefing held by a government official or spokesperson, typically without video cameras permitted.
"The press secretary held a brief gaggle aboard Air Force One en route to the summit."
• verb
To gather or move together in a noisy, disorderly cluster.
"Tourists gaggled around the tour guide at the entrance to the museum."
To cackle or make a noisy, chattering sound like a goose.
"The geese gaggled loudly whenever anyone approached the wooden fence."
Word Nuance & Usage
Traditionally, a group of geese is called a 'gaggle' when on the ground or water, and a 'skein' when flying in a V-formation.
• Rhymes for gaggle
Word Origin & Etymology
From Middle English gagelen ('to cackle'), of imitative origin mimicking the noisy call of a goose; the collective noun sense was popularized in the 15th-century hunting treatise The Book of Saint Albans.