Meanings
plural greylags · alternative graylag
- A large grey European goose, Anser anser, with pink legs and dull orange beak.
Earlier, 250 more had flown to Rattray beach, nearly all pinkfeet although I saw four greylags and heard others.
2012, Adam Watson, Ian Francis, Birds in North-East Scotland Then and Now, page 112 more examples
Since the war, migrant greylags have virtually deserted the Duddon estuary, so it is a source of great satisfaction that the WAGBI greylags have taken to roosting on the sands in mid-winter, flighting to and from the reserve.
1967, Jeffery G. Harrison, A Wealth of Wildfowl, page 150Greylags used to concentrate on British estuaries, eating roots of rushes and sedges, as they do in other parts of their range.
2010, M. Owen, “Greylag Goose”, in Peter Lack, editor, The Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland, page 74Synonyms: greylag goose
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA large grey European goose, Anser anser, with pink legs and dull orange beak.
More synonyms by meaning
nouncommon grey wild goose of Europe; ancestor of many domestic breeds
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From grey (“colour”) + lag (“old name for a goose, derived from the call used to move such animals along”).
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
greylag. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/greylag
“greylag.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/greylag. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “greylag,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/greylag.
Source: greylag on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.