goer

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

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡoʊɚ/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊə(ɹ)

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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     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,

     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, 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, →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, 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.‎, 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.

• Geor., Gero, Gore, Ogre, Rego, ergo, ergo-, gero-, gore, ogre, orge, rego, roge