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
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
But while restrained in form and implications, “Zone” is never coy, and is surprisingly quick to disgorge its secrets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 14, 2023
The captain barks orders to scrambling crewmen, who disgorge from the main hatch like ants from a flooding anthill.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
Once it disgorged its haul, Al-Zaharnah, a burly, weary-looking 56-year-old, climbed over the detritus and bent low for a closer look.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 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
In 1991 Will Self disgorged himself on to the British literary scene with “The Quantity Theory of Insanity,” a book of short stories seething with misanthropy and logorrhea.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
The SEC is seeking hundreds of millions in disgorged profits and penalties for the late filing.
From Barron's ● Jan. 16, 2026
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
You scan the street: there are no cabs pulling up and disgorging screaming mothers.
From "Goodbye Stranger" by Rebecca Stead
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.
