"kill the goose that lays the golden eggs" meaning in English

See kill the goose that lays the golden eggs in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.ogg Forms: kills the goose that lays the golden eggs [present, singular, third-person], killing the goose that lays the golden eggs [participle, present], killed the goose that laid the golden eggs [participle, past], killed the goose that laid the golden eggs [past]
Etymology: From the Aesop's fable The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs, in which a married couple own a goose that lays one golden egg every day. For greed, they decide to kill the goose to obtain all the gold they suppose to be inside. Once opened, the goose proves to be like any normal goose inside. Head templates: {{en-verb|kill<> the goose that lays<lays,lays,laid> the golden eggs}} kill the goose that lays the golden eggs (third-person singular simple present kills the goose that lays the golden eggs, present participle killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, simple past and past participle killed the goose that laid the golden eggs)
  1. (idiomatic) To seek short-term gain at the sacrifice of long-term profit. Wikipedia link: The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: take the short view Related terms: golden goose Translations (to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose): 殺雞取卵 (Chinese Mandarin), 杀鸡取卵 (shājīqǔluǎn) (Chinese Mandarin), 竭澤而漁 (Chinese Mandarin), 竭泽而渔 (jiézé'éryú) (Chinese Mandarin), de kip met de gouden eieren slachten (Dutch), tappaa kultamunia muniva kana (Finnish), tuer la poule aux œufs d’or (French), uccidere la gallina dalle uova d'oro (Italian), zabić kurę znoszącą złote jajka (Polish), заре́зать ку́рицу, несу́щую золоты́е я́йца (zarézatʹ kúricu, nesúščuju zolotýje jájca) [perfective] (Russian), matar a la gallina de los huevos de oro (Spanish)

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "From the Aesop's fable The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs, in which a married couple own a goose that lays one golden egg every day. For greed, they decide to kill the goose to obtain all the gold they suppose to be inside. Once opened, the goose proves to be like any normal goose inside.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "kills the goose that lays the golden eggs",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "killing the goose that lays the golden eggs",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "killed the goose that laid the golden eggs",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "killed the goose that laid the golden eggs",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "kill<> the goose that lays<lays,lays,laid> the golden eggs"
      },
      "expansion": "kill the goose that lays the golden eggs (third-person singular simple present kills the goose that lays the golden eggs, present participle killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, simple past and past participle killed the goose that laid the golden eggs)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1962 December, “Talking of Trains: Passenger traffic declining”, in Modern Railways, page 364:",
          "text": "Have the increases in ordinary fares begun to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs?",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To seek short-term gain at the sacrifice of long-term profit."
      ],
      "id": "en-kill_the_goose_that_lays_the_golden_eggs-en-verb-lQBQvFeQ",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To seek short-term gain at the sacrifice of long-term profit."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "golden goose"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "take the short view"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
          "word": "殺雞取卵"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "shājīqǔluǎn",
          "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
          "word": "杀鸡取卵"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
          "word": "竭澤而漁"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "jiézé'éryú",
          "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
          "word": "竭泽而渔"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
          "word": "de kip met de gouden eieren slachten"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
          "word": "tappaa kultamunia muniva kana"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
          "word": "tuer la poule aux œufs d’or"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
          "word": "uccidere la gallina dalle uova d'oro"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
          "word": "zabić kurę znoszącą złote jajka"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "zarézatʹ kúricu, nesúščuju zolotýje jájca",
          "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "заре́зать ку́рицу, несу́щую золоты́е я́йца"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
          "word": "matar a la gallina de los huevos de oro"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.ogg",
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  "word": "kill the goose that lays the golden eggs"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "From the Aesop's fable The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs, in which a married couple own a goose that lays one golden egg every day. For greed, they decide to kill the goose to obtain all the gold they suppose to be inside. Once opened, the goose proves to be like any normal goose inside.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "kills the goose that lays the golden eggs",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "killing the goose that lays the golden eggs",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "killed the goose that laid the golden eggs",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "killed the goose that laid the golden eggs",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "kill<> the goose that lays<lays,lays,laid> the golden eggs"
      },
      "expansion": "kill the goose that lays the golden eggs (third-person singular simple present kills the goose that lays the golden eggs, present participle killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, simple past and past participle killed the goose that laid the golden eggs)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "golden goose"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
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        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Dutch translations",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with Italian translations",
        "Terms with Mandarin translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1962 December, “Talking of Trains: Passenger traffic declining”, in Modern Railways, page 364:",
          "text": "Have the increases in ordinary fares begun to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs?",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To seek short-term gain at the sacrifice of long-term profit."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To seek short-term gain at the sacrifice of long-term profit."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "take the short view"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c3/En-au-kill_the_goose_that_lays_the_golden_eggs.ogg/En-au-kill_the_goose_that_lays_the_golden_eggs.ogg.mp3",
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
      "word": "殺雞取卵"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "shājīqǔluǎn",
      "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
      "word": "杀鸡取卵"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
      "word": "竭澤而漁"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "jiézé'éryú",
      "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
      "word": "竭泽而渔"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
      "word": "de kip met de gouden eieren slachten"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
      "word": "tappaa kultamunia muniva kana"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
      "word": "tuer la poule aux œufs d’or"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
      "word": "uccidere la gallina dalle uova d'oro"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
      "word": "zabić kurę znoszącą złote jajka"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "zarézatʹ kúricu, nesúščuju zolotýje jájca",
      "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "заре́зать ку́рицу, несу́щую золоты́е я́йца"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to seek short term gain at the sacrifice of long term profit — see also golden goose",
      "word": "matar a la gallina de los huevos de oro"
    }
  ],
  "word": "kill the goose that lays the golden eggs"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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