noun
a quantity of no importance
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it looked like nothing I had ever seen before
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reduced to nil all the work we had done
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we racked up a pathetic goose egg
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it was all for naught
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I didn't hear zilch about it
• Syn:
• Hypernyms: ↑relative quantity
• Hyponyms: ↑nihil, ↑bugger all, ↑fuck all, ↑Fanny Adams, ↑sweet Fanny Adams
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nounEtymology: so called from the egg-shaped numeral 0
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Informal.
1. the numeral zero, often used to indicate the failure of a team to score in a game or unit of a game: a pitchers' duel, with nothing but goose eggs on the scoreboard.
2. a lump raised by a blow, esp. on the head.
[1350-1400; 1885-90, Amer., for def. 1; ME: the egg of a goose]
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goose egg,
1. the egg of a goose.
2. Slang. (in athletic and other contests) a zero, indicating a miss or a failure to score.
goose-egg «GOOS EHG», transitive verb.
U.S. Slang. to cause to fail or lose.
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informal n.
1) zero, esp. a zero score in a game
once again, our team goes home with a big goose egg
2) a lump, typically on the head, from a blow
•
Origin:
late 19th cent.: with reference to the shape of the zero
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noun, pl ⋯ eggs [count]
US informal : a score of zero
The two teams matched goose eggs [=they both scored no runs] for five innings.
They put another goose egg up on the scoreboard.
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a score of zero in a game
Word Origin:
late 19th cent.: with reference to the shape of the zero; compare with ↑duck ‘a score of zero in cricket’.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.