A wild goose chase is a search or endeavour that is ultimately futile â pursuing something that cannot be found, or following a trail that leads nowhere. Investigating a lead that turns out to be false is a wild goose chase. Trying to locate a piece of paperwork in a disorganised archive is a wild goose chase. The phrase implies wasted time and effort.
The phrase was invented by William Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet (1597), where it refers not to chasing a wild goose but to a specific equestrian game. In the game, a lead rider set off on an unpredictable course that other riders then had to follow exactly, maintaining a fixed distance â like wild geese flying in formation behind their leader. The routes were arbitrary and difficult to follow, making the whole exercise laborious and uncertain.
The equestrian game fell out of use by the 18th century but the phrase remained. Its meaning shifted naturally: because the original game involved following unpredictable, arbitrary paths to no specific destination, it became a metaphor for any pursuit that is similarly unpredictable and unproductive. Shakespeare's phrase outlived the activity that inspired it by several centuries.
He is the earliest known source of the phrase in print, in Romeo and Juliet Act 2, Scene 4. Whether the phrase existed in spoken English before Shakespeare used it is impossible to know, but his is the first recorded instance.
Actual wild geese in flight are notoriously impossible to follow â they fly at speed, change direction unpredictably, and migrate thousands of kilometres. While this reinforces the metaphor, the original phrase refers to the equestrian riding game, not the literal challenge of pursuing the birds.