guzzle
English
Alternative forms
- guzle
- guzzel
Etymology
Attested since 1576. Possibly imitative of the sound of drinking greedily, or from Old French gouziller, gosillier (“to pass through the throat”), from gosier (“throat”), and akin to Italian gozzo (“throat; a bird's crop”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɡʌzəl/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ʌzəl
Verb
guzzle (third-person singular simple present guzzles, present participle guzzling, simple past and past participle guzzled)
- To drink or eat quickly, voraciously, or to excess; to gulp down; to swallow greedily, continually, or with gusto.
- 1720, John Gay, “Friday; or, the Dirge” in Poems on Several Occasions, Google Books
- No more her care shall fill the hollow tray, / To fat the guzzling hogs with floods of whey.
- 1971, Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley, “Oompa Loompa, Doompa-Dee-Do”, from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
- What do you get when you guzzle down sweets, / Eating as much as an elephant eats?
- 2016, Daniel Gray, Saturday, 3pm: 50 Eternal Delights of Modern Football
- It is Boxing Day in a football ground, and all we can do is sprawl over the plastic, hurling instructions and vague encouragement. The seat is an extension of the sofa, the match another Pick of the Day in the Radio Times. Some are wearing Santa hats, some have been drinking only six or seven hours after last stopping, guzzling away, topping up their levels to reach pie-eyed delirium.
- 1720, John Gay, “Friday; or, the Dirge” in Poems on Several Occasions, Google Books
- (intransitive, dated) To consume alcoholic beverages, especially frequently or habitually.
- 1649, John Milton, Eikonoklastes, Google Books
- A comparison more properly bestowed on those that came to guzzle in his wine cellar.
- 1684, Roscommon, Essay on Translated Verse, Google Books
- Well-seasoned bowls the gossip's spirits raise, Who, while she guzzles, chats the doctor's praise.
- 1859, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Virginians, Google Books
- Every theatre had it's footman's gallery: […] they guzzled, devoured, debauched, cheated, played cards, bullied visitors for vails: […]
- 1649, John Milton, Eikonoklastes, Google Books
- (by extension) To consume anything quickly, greedily, or to excess, as if with insatiable thirst.
- This car just guzzles petrol.
- 2004, Mike Rigby, quoted in The Freefoam Roofline Report,
- China continues full steam ahead and the Americans continue to guzzle fuel, while supply becomes restricted.
Synonyms
- (to drink quickly, voraciously): swig, swill
Derived terms
- guzzler
- guzzly
Translations
to drink (or sometimes eat) voraciously
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to consume alcoholic beverages, especially frequently or habitually
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(by extension) to consume anything greedily
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See also
- guttle
- guddle
Noun
guzzle (plural guzzles)
- (dated, uncountable) Drink; intoxicating liquor.
- Where squander'd away the tiresome minutes of your evening leisure over seal'd Winchesters of threepenny guzzle! — Tom Brown
- (dated) A drinking bout; a debauch.
- (dated) An insatiable thing or person.
- (obsolete, Britain, provincial) A drain or ditch; a gutter; sometimes, a small stream. Also called guzzen.
- 1598, John Marston, The Scourge of Villanie Google Books
- Means't thou that senseless, sensual epicure, / That sink of filth, that guzzle most impure?
- 1623, W. Whately, Bride Bush:
- This is all one thing as if hee should goe about to jussle her into some filthy stinking guzzle or ditch.
- 1598, John Marston, The Scourge of Villanie Google Books
- The throat.