Wiktionary

goer

See also: gör, Gör, and gör-

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English goere, equivalent to go +‎ -er. Compare German Geher (“goer, walker”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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goer (plural goers)

  1. One who, or that which, goes.
    • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
      Such a man
      Might be a copy to these younger times;
      Which, follow’d well, would demonstrate them now
      But goers backward.
    • 1845, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Letter to Hannah Macaulay dated 19 December, 1845 in G. Otto Trevelyan (ed.), The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay, New York: Harper, 1875, Volume 2, p. 149,[1]
      Lord John has been all day in his inner library. His antechamber has been filled with comers and goers, some talking in knots, some writing notes at tables.
    • 1927, Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse‎[2], London: The Hogarth Press, published 1930, Part 1, p. 58:
      […] the two classes of men; on the one hand the steady goers of superhuman strength […] plodding and persevering, […] ; on the other the gifted, the inspired […]
    • 2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections:
      He despised the museum and its goers for everything they didn’t know.
  2. (informal) Anything, especially a machine such as a motor car, that performs well, or operates successfully.
    I bought her secondhand, but she's a good little goer.
  3. (British, slang) A person, often a woman, who enjoys sexual activity.
    • 1969, Monty Python, Nudge Nudge:
      Norman: Is your wife a...goer...eh? Know what I mean? Know what I mean? Nudge nudge.
    • 1990, Hampton Charles, Advantage Miss Seeton, page 45:
      He winked at Parsons. "If I'm any judge, she must've bin a right little goer in 'er day."
    • 2001, Peter Buse, Drama + Theory: Critical Approaches to Modern British Drama, page 102:
      ' […] (Intimate, man to man) Eh, I bet she's a goer, int she sunshine? She's got a fair pair of knockers on her too.'
    • 2001, Edna Walsh, Bedbound and Misterman‎[3], →ISBN, page 22:
      'I can tell that yer a right little goer, hey Larsie?!' I call over two slappers and slip them a few hundred! Before I know it me and Lars and the two slappers are rolling around a giant bed with the hungriest genitals in Gay Paree!
  4. (obsolete) A foot (body part).
    • c. 1615, George Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses‎[4], London: Nathaniell Butter, Book 13, p. 202:
      […] a double Mantle cast
      A’ thwart his Shoulders, his faire goers g[r]ac’st
      With fitted shooes; and in his hand, a Dart
  5. (dated) A horse, considered in reference to its gait.
    a safe goer
    • 1727, Daniel Defoe, “A Tour thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain”, in et al.‎[5], London: J. Osborn, published 1742, Volume 4, Letter 3, p. 106:
      These Horses, which are very much bought up in England, are remarkable for being good natural Pacers, strong, easy Goers, hardy, gentle, well-broken, and, above all, not apt to tire.
    • 1904–1907 (date written), James Joyce, “The Dead”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, published June 1914, →OCLC:
      “I'd like nothing better this minute,” said Mr Browne stoutly, “than a rattling fine walk in the country or a fast drive with a good spanking goer between the shafts.”
  6. (firefighting, slang) A fire incident in progress.
    • 2023, A. J. Taylor, Firefighting: Better than Working for a Living
      […] multiple calls on Southwark's ground. From the radio traffic it sounded like they had a goer.

Derived terms

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Terms derived from "goer" ("-goer")

Translations

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Anagrams

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