disgorge
Americanverb (used with object)
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to eject or throw out from the throat, mouth, or stomach; vomit forth.
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to surrender or yield (something, especially something illicitly obtained).
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to discharge forcefully or as a result of force.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to throw out (swallowed food, etc) from the throat or stomach; vomit
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to discharge or empty of (contents)
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(tr) to yield up unwillingly or under pressure
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(tr) angling to remove (a hook) from the mouth or throat of (a fish)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disgorge
1470–80; < Middle French desgorger, equivalent to des- dis- 1 + -gorger, derivative of gorge throat; see gorge 1
Explanation
There's really no way to put this delicately. Disgorge is just a fancy word for "throw up." Usually, this somewhat icky word is applied to birds or animals rather than people. Gorge is an old-fashioned word for the throat, so to disgorge is to eject something through the throat. (Yuck.) In addition to its literal meaning, disgorge also has the broader metaphorical meaning of "to empty out." So a bus might disgorge its passengers and a spy might disgorge her secrets — for the right price.
Vocabulary lists containing disgorge
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The Securities and Exchange Commission requires owners of 10% or more of a public company’s stock to disgorge all profits realized within any six-month period.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Finally, the trucks would disgorge their citrus into a harvest wagon, the giant flatbed, which would be driven by semitruck to the processing center.
From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2026
Leigh doesn’t put his characters on the couch or disgorge the traumas that are etched in every word and gesture.
From New York Times ● Dec. 6, 2024
Pere points over to the port, far beyond the rows of street vendors and swelling crowds filling the square, explaining that some cruises disgorge as many of 12,000 visitors every day onto the island.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2024
So the knights disgorge the bitter leaf, black with saliva, into Jacob’s small palms.
From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz
The Springfield Armory, which made fewer than 10,000 rifles in 1860, disgorged more than 800,000 over the following four years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
Musk has also asked for billions of dollars made by the for-profit business to be disgorged, with the proceeds directed to OpenAI’s nonprofit arm.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 28, 2026
The SEC is seeking hundreds of millions in disgorged profits and penalties for the late filing.
From Barron's ● Jan. 16, 2026
I watched as bus after white bus drove up to the plane and disgorged detainees.
From Slate ● Jun. 19, 2025
As usual, the tree disgorged its food, and the astonished girl watched her father eating with the speed of a man who has not eaten for many weeks.
From "The Girl Who Married a Lion: and Other Tales from Africa" by Alexander Mccall Smith
A world with no AP classes, basketball fundraisers or backpacks disgorging papers that I should have signed last week.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2025
The whole point of disgorging profits is that you’re taking the ill-gotten gains away from the wrongdoer.
From Slate ● Feb. 26, 2024
At least four have sunk in the harbour, disgorging rubbish and fuel into waters that are part of a marine reserve.
From Reuters ● Nov. 24, 2023
Rebranded as Súil, a Gaelic word meaning “hope,” the sparkling viognier is still made by hand through riddling, disgorging and recorking, and in limited quantities.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 24, 2021
Such made their way into the city, where transport ships seemed daily to arrive, disgorging regiments of soldiers who paraded through the streets and encamped upon the Common.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
