Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A thug hired to intimidate or harm opponents.
- noun A stupid or oafish person.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Australia, countable, informal A wine
flagon orcask . - noun Australia, uncountable, informal Cheap or inferior
cask wine . - noun A
thug ; a usually muscularhenchman with little intelligence (also known as a 'hired goon'). - noun A
fool ; someone consideredsilly ,stupid ,awkward , oroutlandish . - noun ice hockey, pejorative An
enforcer orfighter .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an awkward stupid person
- noun an aggressive and violent young criminal
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word goon.
Examples
-
The BMC calendar is legal -- even without Ford's blessing -- and when you protect yourself from legal liability by shutting it down, you incur PR liability by seeming like a bunch of candy-asses who can be bullied into submission by a memo from some white-shoe legal goon from a Fortune 100.
Boing Boing 2008
-
So it is extremely likely that Alice the Goon did influence the now standard meaning of the word goon, but E.C. Segar did not coin the word itself, as it was around for more than a decade before Alice the Goon came into the picture.
Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #156 | Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources 2008
-
Milligan is said to have picked the word goon out of a Popeye comic and started using it as derogatory term for people he saw as idiots.
Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #156 | Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources 2008
-
Another tuneless goon is going to be eliminated from X Factor tomorrow – but who?
Betting Extra: X Factor Betting Odds – First Elimination 2005
-
Just think, this goon is just now starting his career in the Senate and even though he has one of the worst approval ratings the idjits here in Oklahoma will vote him back into office purely because he is Southern Baptist and knows how to talk to the rubes in this state.
-
Crank up the volume and get ready to call the goon squad.
WATCH: David Bowie Rocks Out To 'Fashion,' Late '90s-Style Hilary Moss 2011
-
Crank up the volume and get ready to call the goon squad.
WATCH: David Bowie Rocks Out To 'Fashion,' Late '90s-Style Hilary Moss 2011
-
That a goon is a goon has to do with their humanness, not their politics.
-
Nancy is like, yeah, well, your goon is a blood stain and I think Guillermo his peoples is to blame.
Weeds Session: Episode “Su-Su-Sucio” Offers Jokes, Hugs, Voyeurism, and Blood Relief | /Film 2009
-
I've always wanted to be a henchman, so signing up to be a goon was an easy decision.
abraxaszugzwang commented on the word goon
I can't remember who had the wine list, but in Australia, goon is the slang for bottom-of-the-barrel cask wine.
March 9, 2007
grandpa27 commented on the word goon
I believe that Goon was used (maybe invented) by Segar, the creator of Popeye the sailor. Google Goon Segar
Mack Kelly
March 26, 2009
bilby commented on the word goon
I can confirm what AZ sez.
September 10, 2009
arcadia commented on the word goon
--bilby, A little late to confirm, isn't it?
When I see this word, I am forced to think of that really stupid song that my children's great-aunt insists on singing to them all the time, about Little Bunny Foo-foo. ...Dear God, why!?!?! Make it stop.
September 10, 2009
bilby commented on the word goon
Was in one of the local papers today. Story was about there perhaps being a levy placed on this kind of wine, partly because we have a major problem with street drunks and this is their tipple of choice, partly because the cask bladders they leave in their wake are a non-biodegradable blight on the landscape. First time I'd seen the term.
September 10, 2009
alexz commented on the word goon
"uh, about ten cups of goon" - guy who jumped into crocodile water to impress a girl.
March 24, 2017