drool
Americanverb (used without object)
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drools,
present (3rd person singular)
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drooled,
past participle, past
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drooling
present participle
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to water at the mouth, as in anticipation of food; salivate; drivel.
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to show excessive pleasure or anticipation of pleasure.
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to talk foolishly.
noun
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drools
plural
verb
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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droolsimple
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droolssimple
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have drooledperfect
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has drooledperfect
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am droolingprogressive
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are droolingprogressive
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is droolingprogressive
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have been droolingperfect progressive
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has been droolingperfect progressive
Past
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drooledsimple
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had drooledperfect
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was droolingprogressive
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were droolingprogressive
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had been droolingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of drool
1795–1805; variant of driule, itself variant of drivel
Explanation
The dampness that forms in your mouth when you smell something delicious is drool. When it actually drips from your mouth, you drool. The official term for drool is saliva. Babies drool, dogs drool — we all drool sometimes. Sometimes people drool (or salivate) because of problems with their salivary glands. You might drool when you skip breakfast and your friend offers you a warm, homemade cinnamon roll. The word comes from drivel, which today means "speak nonsense," but originally had the sense of "to slobber or run at the nose."
Vocabulary lists containing drool
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:
“He’s just standing there, you know, on all fours, and he’s got drool coming down,” recalled Peter, 69.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
He was lethargic, his chest soaked with drool.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2025
They need a sizable guaranteed income, great health care and a comfortable living until they freeze in a blank stare and drool from a podium in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2025
Meanwhile, Bentley tends to drool because of the tumor.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 5, 2024
When she entered, the old woman was snoring loudly, mouth agape and a slight trail of drool beginning to trickle from the side.
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
A dog isn’t a furry, four-legged human that drools.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
“He looks like Zipco, he drools like Zipco — this guy smells like Zipco. And he’s talking to the so-called photographer, who is like a bug to him.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2024
It changed the feel of the game as it pertained to one of the most awesome forces ever to hit the sport: the Alabama receiver laboratory, routine supplier of NFL drools and draft choices.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 11, 2022
When I put dog food in my dog’s bowl, she drools until she can start eating.
From The Guardian ● May 25, 2020
He drools over me for half a DECADE, but when I deliver myself to his front DOOR, he slams it in my FACE!
From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick
I coughed over the sink, hardly able to get a breath, until I gagged and drooled into the drain.
From Slate ● Jun. 13, 2026
Yes, my audience giggled dutifully at the jiggling Jell-O salads and drooled over the groovy conversation pits in the Richards’ living room, the only super lair I’d ever live in.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2025
I attended, and yes, I drooled as they passed the bowl of guacamole, the many different types of salsas and all of those beautiful tacos and tostadas directly in front of my hungry face.
From Salon ● Nov. 18, 2023
There have been some terrific throws on the run by the New York Jets rookie quarterback, the type NFL teams drooled over leading up to the draft.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 12, 2021
He almost drooled at this pig, but walked on.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
The bottom line: Stop drooling about them and do what they should have been doing all along: Invest in index funds.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
"So although it might be food very near to them and they might be drooling, they actually can't pounce on to them."
From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2026
“I’m drooling all the time because my mouth is not straight,” he said, and shook his head, disappointed.
From Slate ● Jan. 27, 2026
After three hellish days in a drooling, Dramamine-induced coma, I failed my check ride.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025
The drooling was a habit Penelope was slowing training him out of; for now she was relieved Lady Constance seemed not to notice, as she was still prattling away.
From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood
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.
