Word of the Day

gander \GAN-der\,
noun:
1. Slang. a look: Take a gander at his new shoes.
2. the male of the goose. Compare goose (def. 2).

Each Sunday in the summer and fall of 1927, Queens Village neighbors complained about the stream of motorists cruising by the Snyder residence, seeking a gander at Lorraine or her grandmother, some even installing themselves on the lawn with box lunches until police were called in.
-- Ron Hansen, "A Wild Surge of Guilty Passion," 2011

Even though he isn't usually impressed by television stars or recording artists, Kansas Citians rarely see celebrities, so Cicero takes a moment to gander at the rare sight.
-- Che Parker, "Tragic Flaw," 2007

Gander came to English from the Proto-Indo-European word for "goose" or perhaps another type of water bird. The first noun sense of gander, used as early as the year 1000, meant "a male goose," and later senses related metaphorically to the movement of a goose. While the verb form of gander meaning "to look" entered English in late 1600s, the noun form meaning "a look" didn't enter English until the early 1900s.

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