goose egg

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

goose′ egg′, [Informal.]

1. Informal Terms 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. Informal Terms a lump raised by a blow, esp. on the head.

• 1350–1400; 1885–90, American., for def. 1; Middle English: the egg of a goose