disgorge

American  

[dis-gawrj] / dɪsˈgɔrdʒ /

verb (used with object)

disgorged, disgorging

1. to eject or throw out from the throat, mouth, or stomach; vomit forth.

2. to surrender or yield (something, especially something illicitly obtained).

3. to discharge forcefully or as a result of force.

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verb (used without object)

disgorged, disgorging

1. to eject, yield, or discharge something.

disgorge British  

/ dɪsˈɡɔːdʒ /

verb

1. to throw out (swallowed food, etc) from the throat or stomach; vomit

2. to discharge or empty of (contents)

3. (tr) to yield up unwillingly or under pressure

4. (tr) angling to remove (a hook) from the mouth or throat of (a fish)

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Other Word Forms

• disgorgement
  noun
• disgorger
  noun
• undisgorged
  adjective

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

disgorge disgorged disgorging

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

It wants him to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in disgorged trading profits and penalties.

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

Customers arrive in human waves, sometimes disgorged fifty at a time from their tour buses, peckish and whiny.

From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich

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

The clock says 5:30 a.m., but the parking lot of Sonora Market already has become an anthill as trucks cruise in and out disgorging farmworkers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2022

The massive cargo carriers that arrive off the coast of Southern California, some bearing more than 15,000 metal shipping containers, often must wait at anchor for days before disgorging their cargo.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 27, 2021

Every once in a while, a bubble would swell and burst, disgorging a monster like a larva from an egg.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan

Related Words

• regurgitate