gaggle

Etymology

From Middle English gagelen (“to cackle; cackle like a goose”). Compare Dutch gaggelen (“to cackle”), Icelandic gagl (“small goose; gosling”).

noun

1. (collective) A group of geese when they are on the ground or on the water.
   The Canada geese always flew over the 80 acre lake; it was a landmark on their route and a stopping point for many a gaggle, where many hours were spent after feeding in the farmers' fields. 2011, Denise A. White, The Goose and the Crone, AuthorHouse, page 11
2. (by extension) Any group or gathering of related things.
   There were no signs and no one quite knew how to navigate the museum, including, as it was Fleet Week, gaggles of boyish sailors all in their summer whites. It looked like a Frank Sinatra movie. 7 June 2014, Vicki Woods, “Sadness, and a surprise, at the 9/11 Museum”, in The Daily Telegraph, page 24
   The crow’s name was Betty. And she was on her way to stardom. A gaggle of Oxford University scientists watched in wonder as she casually picked up a piece of wire in her cage and then used a nearby object to bend it at one end, transforming the wire into a hooked tool. 2019-12-12, Chris Baraniuk, “Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates”, in BBC Future
   The party level ramps up at Thornaby, where a gaggle of women on a 50th birthday bash join us. November 30 2022, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 74

verb

1. To make a noise like a goose; to cackle.
   When a friend asked Socrates, how he could bear the scolding of his wife Xantippe? he retorted, and asked him, how he could bear the gaggling of his geese? 1733, Jonathan Swift, "A New Simile for the Ladies with Useful Annotations by Dr. Sheridan", note 7 (in The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Vol. II)