gaggle

plural gaggles

1. collectiveA group of geese when they are on the ground or on the water; other groups of birds.

   They're only referred to as a gaggle when they're on land. When they're flying in formation they can be referred to as a skein.

   2019 June 6, “A gaggle, a confusion and a conspiracy - bizarre animal collective group names”, in BBC

   2 more examples

   The Canada geese always flew over the 80 acre lake; it was a landmark on their route and a stopping point for many a gaggle, where many hours were spent after feeding in the farmers' fields.

   2011, Denise A. White, The Goose and the Crone, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 11

   He told how the herons always came at St. Valentine's to Felborough Wood and Chilham, and how the terns came in screaming gaggles when September was ending, and where the squirrels' drays were mostly found, and where he had seen a cete of badgers.

   1927, Alfred Tresidder Sheppard, Here Comes an Old Sailor, page 246

2. broadlyAny group or gathering of related things, particularly one perceived as noisy, boisterous or chaotic.

   The party level ramps up at Thornaby, where a gaggle of women on a 50th birthday bash join us.

   2022 November 30, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 74

   4 more examples

   A gaggle of gays—probably no more than 15 or so, but from our perspective there seemed to be literally scores of them—pranced, skipped and otherwise just plain camped their way into the last few rows of seats.

   1972 November 24, [W]ill [A]itken, “boys in the back: or how a movie made me come out”, in Nigel Gibson, editor, The McGill Daily, volume 62, number 48, Quebec, via Internet Archive, The Review

   There were no signs and no one quite knew how to navigate the museum, including, as it was Fleet Week, gaggles of boyish sailors all in their summer whites. It looked like a Frank Sinatra movie.

   2014 June 7, Vicki Woods, “Sadness, and a surprise, at the 9/11 Museum”, in The Daily Telegraph, archived from the original on 01 Jul 2014, page 24

   The crow’s name was Betty. And she was on her way to stardom. A gaggle of Oxford University scientists watched in wonder as she casually picked up a piece of wire in her cage and then used a nearby object to bend it at one end, transforming the wire into a hooked tool.

   2019 December 12, Chris Baraniuk, “Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates”, in BBC Future

   Millwall were allocated 3,781 tickets for this six-mile trip down the south London train tracks. The away end was duly packed out and ringed, sternly, by a gaggle of widely jeered Metropolitan police.

   2025 March 1, Barney Ronay, “Crystal Palace through after Millwall keeper’s red for head-high tackle on Mateta”, in The Guardian

   Synonyms: bunch

3. abbreviationShort for press gaggle: an informal briefing of journalists.

   Last week, Mr. Trump told the [Christian Science] Monitor during a gaggle with reporters that there were “about four” other states where Republicans should redraw the maps besides Texas.

   2025 July 24, Cameron Joseph, “Trump has opened up ‘a nuclear arms race’ on gerrymandering”, in The Christian Science Monitor

4. collectivehistoricalA group of women.

   Synonyms: women, ladies

present singular third person gaggles · participle present gaggling · participle past gaggled · past gaggled

1. To make a noise like a goose; to cackle.

   Geese do gaggle

   1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   When a friend asked Socrates, how he could bear the scolding of his wife Xantippe? he retorted, and asked him, how he could bear the gaggling of his geese?

   1733, Jonathan Swift, "A New Simile for the Ladies with Useful Annotations by Dr. Sheridan", note 7 (in The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Vol. II)