gorge
1 Americannoun
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a narrow cleft with steep, rocky walls, especially one through which a stream runs.
-
a small canyon.
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a gluttonous meal.
-
something that is swallowed; contents of the stomach.
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an obstructing mass.
an ice gorge.
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the seam formed at the point where the lapel meets the collar of a jacket or coat.
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Fortification. the rear entrance or part of a bastion or similar outwork.
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Also called gorge hook. a primitive type of fishhook consisting of a piece of stone or bone with sharpened ends and a hole or groove in the center for fastening a line.
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the throat; gullet.
verb (used with object)
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gorges,
present (3rd person singular)
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gorged,
past participle, past
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gorging
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
gorges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gorged,
past participle, past
-
gorging
present participle
idioms
noun
noun
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a deep ravine, esp one through which a river runs
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the contents of the stomach
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feelings of disgust or resentment (esp in the phrase one's gorge rises )
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an obstructing mass
an ice gorge
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fortifications
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a narrow rear entrance to a work
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the narrow part of a bastion or outwork
-
-
archaic the throat or gullet
verb
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(intr) falconry (of hawks) to eat until the crop is completely full
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to swallow (food) ravenously
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(tr) to stuff (oneself) with food
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
gorgesimple
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gorgessimple
-
have gorgedperfect
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has gorgedperfect
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am gorgingprogressive
-
are gorgingprogressive
-
is gorgingprogressive
-
have been gorgingperfect progressive
-
has been gorgingperfect progressive
Past
-
gorgedsimple
-
had gorgedperfect
-
was gorgingprogressive
-
were gorgingprogressive
-
had been gorgingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gorge
First recorded in 1325–75; (verb) Middle English, from Old French gorger, derivative of gorge “throat,” from unattested Vulgar Latin gorga, akin to Latin gurguliō “gullet, throat,” gurges “whirlpool, eddy”
Explanation
A gorge is a very deep crevice between two mountains or hills. Gorges are formed by rivers running through and eroding rock over a very long period of time. The Latin root of gorge means "throat," leading to both the "narrow passage" meaning and the French gorgier, "to swallow," which influenced the verb version of gorge, "to overeat." You may love to gorge on ice cream, but the stomachache afterward won't be very pleasant. To remember the "canyon" meaning, think of the famous upstate New York bumper sticker, “Ithaca is gorges.” It's a play on gorgeous, meaning beautiful, and the beautiful ravines in the area.
Vocabulary lists containing gorge
Hatchet
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Physical Geography - Introductory
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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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:
Isak Andic died in late 2024 after falling more than 300 feet into a gorge while out trekking with his son Jonathan in the Montserrat mountain range near Barcelona.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
A colony of macaques that gorge on snacks offered by tourists in the British territory of Gibraltar swallow soil to recover from their junk food binges, a study has found.
From Barron's ● May 22, 2026
A pantheon of past winners gather to celebrate their success and gorge on a set menu specially selected by the previous year's victor.
From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2026
Then there’s a gorge in between and it’s filled with all these, like, monster people that are trying to get them.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 6, 2026
I traced the white road winding round the base of one mountain, and vanishing in a gorge between two; how I longed to follow it farther!
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
Beside him, a younger woman was planning to embark on a long taxi drive with him, across steep mountain passes and narrow gorges, first to Armenia's capital, Yerevan, and then on to nearby Georgia.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2025
Elisabeth, resentful, gorges on whatever fatty food she can find.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 7, 2025
In the same way that trees function as Earth's lungs, migrating animals—eating, pooping and dying along the way—circulate nitrogen and phosphorus from deep-sea gorges to mountain peaks and from the poles to the tropics.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 19, 2023
The region is largely rural, made up of red-rock mountains, picturesque gorges and glistening streams and lakes.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 10, 2023
The arid, imposing mountains sat along deep gorges and soared to jagged peaks.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
January tends to come with a slowdown in spending after consumers have gorged on shopping for the holidays.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 21, 2026
Instead, the American and British public gorged on the sensationalism because that was the supposedly “official” record.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2025
They bonded further over an offseason trip to Tokyo, where they gorged on sushi and wagyu beef.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 30, 2024
Steve Smith and Travis Head gorged on some below-par bowling before the Aussie pace bowlers thundered into a shell-shocked India top order.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2023
The summer population must be large and the roads and highways gorged with refugees from the sticky heat of Boston and New York.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
It’s there that the baleen filter feeders spend the summer gorging on tiny crustaceans from the muddy bottom of the Bering, Chuckchi and Beaufort seas, creating shallow pits or potholes in the process.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2026
The private-equity industry, after gorging on technology investments in the wake of the pandemic, is now coming back around to bread-and-butter companies such as industrial suppliers and service providers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2025
It denotes licentiousness and lack of control, the actions of a toddler gorging himself on chocolate until he is sick.
From Salon ● Apr. 5, 2025
As Evergrande was gorging on land, it sought ways to help finance its deals.
From Reuters ● Aug. 31, 2023
Her lips resemble two leeches puffed up from gorging on blood.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
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.
