The story
Possibly arose from Lincolnshire dialect, in which gawn and gooze both mean stare or gape. Popularised by L. T. C. Rolt in Narrow Boat (1944), a book on canal life.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
gongoozle
Today it means: To leisurely watch the passage of boats, from the bank of a canal, lock or bridge. Full definition →