someone's goose is cooked

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Someone's situation is hopeless or their plans are ruined.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

tình huống của ai đó vô vọng hoặc kế hoạch bị phá hỏng

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: a cooked goose
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

If he gets caught cheating, his goose is cooked.

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “someone's goose is cooked” mean?

Someone's situation is hopeless or their plans are ruined. Literally: a cooked goose

Is “someone's goose is cooked” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.