gobble

¹

[gob-uhl]

verb (used with object)

gobbled, gobbling 

1. to swallow or eat hastily or hungrily in large pieces; gulp.

   Synonyms: devour, bolt

2. to seize upon eagerly (often followed byup ).

   After being gone for so long, they gobbled up all the local news.

verb (used without object)

gobbled, gobbling 

1. to eat hastily.

gobble

²

[gob-uhl]

verb (used without object)

gobbled, gobbling 

1. to make the characteristic throaty cry of a male turkey.

noun

1. the cry itself.

gobble

¹

/ ˈɡɒbəl /

noun

1. the loud rapid gurgling sound made by male turkeys

interjection

1. an imitation of this sound

verb

1. (intr) (of a turkey) to make this sound

gobble

²

/ ˈɡɒbəl /

verb

1. to eat or swallow (food) hastily and in large mouthfuls

2. informal,  to snatch

Word History and Origins

Origin of gobble¹

1595–1605; probably imitative; gob ¹, -le

Origin of gobble²

First recorded in 1670–80; variant of gabble

Word History and Origins

Origin of gobble¹

C17: probably of imitative origin

Origin of gobble²

C17: probably from _gob ¹

Example Sentences

Top players from Greece and Serbia have gobbled up MVP awards and championships.

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Ranchers say the animals are gobbling down plants needed to sustain their cattle.

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And because the lynching episode it recalls was perpetrated by two white men against a third white man, it gobbles up convenient assumptions about “us” versus “them.”

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Filmmaker Kevin Willmott put it another way in The Nation: “The Confederacy has gobbled up the Union…The entire nation is capitulating to the new Confederate States of America.”

Read more on Salon

In total, the American people, and their ability to live full and meaningful lives, are being gobbled up by what political theorist Nancy Fraser describes as “cannibal capitalism.”

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Related Words

• devour 
• gulp 
• guzzle 
• swallow