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Gargantua

American  
[gahr-gan-choo-uh] / gɑrˈgæn tʃu ə /

noun

  1. an amiable giant and king, noted for his enormous capacity for food and drink, in Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel.

  2. (italics) a satirical novel (1534) by Rabelais.


Gargantua British  
/ ɡɑːˈɡæntjʊə /

noun

  1. a gigantic king noted for his great capacity for food and drink, in Rabelais' satire Gargantua and Pantagruel (1534)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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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.

In 1995, Federated, the department store chain with an appetite like Gargantua, had already taken over Macy’s.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 14, 2021

All these initial chapters of “Monkey King” exhibit a rollicking exuberance, somewhat like Rabelais’s hyperbolic accounts of the giants Gargantua and Pantagruel.

From Washington Post • Mar. 3, 2021

Which key is best for a black hole called Gargantua?

From Slate • Nov. 12, 2014

Surely Don Quixote or Moby Dick or Gargantua and Pantagruel would all be classed as postmodern novels, but they were written in the 17th, 19th and 16th centuries respectively – so what’s going on there?

From Salon • Aug. 20, 2012

Pantagruel is arguing against fasting and solitude as aids to a contemplative life, and quotes the authority of his father Gargantua.

From Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromartie, Knight by Willcock, John

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