goose step
- noun
- /ɡuːs stɛp/
:
paso de ganso
- The soldiers performed the goose step as they paraded past the reviewing stand.
Examples
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Watching the old footage, you can see entire regiments marching in perfect goose step.
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The ceremonial guard is famous for its precise goose step during official events.
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The soldiers marched in perfect goose step.
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During the parade, the troops performed a goose step that impressed everyone.
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During the parade, the soldiers marched in perfect goose step to the rhythm of the drum.
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The recruits practiced the goose step daily to prepare for the military inspection.
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To commemorate the ceremony, the honor guard performed a precise goose step as they approached the dais.
How Stiff
Surface Forms
Morphology
goose + step
The compound 'goose' + 'step' evokes a characteristic way of stepping, so a learner who knows both words can picture an unusual gait and infer a related meaning. However, the precise conventionalized, militarily-specific sense of marching with stiff straight legs is a culturally-coded extension that may not be fully predictable from the parts alone, so prior exposure helps; many languages also use a similar calque, which supports partial recognizability but not full transparency.
Etymology
Goose step comes from the image of soldiers lifting very straight legs high so their walk looks like a goose taking a stiff step. So the name means 'a way of marching' used by some armies.