Guzzle

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ÊŒzÉ™l

Origin

Attested since 1576. Possibly imitative of the sound of drinking greedily, or from Old French gouziller, gosillier ("to pass through the throat"), from gosier ("throat"), and akin to Italian gozzo ("throat; a bird's crop").

Full definition of guzzle

Verb

1. To drink (or, sometimes, eat) quickly, voraciously, or to excess; to gulp down; to swallow greedily, continually, or with gust.They spent most of their college days guzzling beer.
• 1720, John Gay, “Friday; or, the Dirge” in Poems on Several Occasions, Google BooksNo more her care shall fill the hollow tray,
  To fat the guzzling hogs with floods of whey.
• 1971, Leslie Bricusse & , “Oompa Loompa, Doompa-Dee-Do”, from What do you get when you guzzle down sweets,
  Eating as much as an elephant eats?
2. (intransitive, dated) To consume alcoholic beverages, especially frequently or habitually.
• 1649, John Milton, , Google BooksA comparison more properly bestowed on those that came to guzzle in his wine cellar.
• 1684, Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon, Essay on Translated Verse, Google BooksWell-seasoned bowls the gossip's spirits raise, Who, while she guzzles, chats the doctor's praise.
• 1859, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Virginians, Google BooksEvery theatre had it's footman's gallery: … they guzzled, devoured, debauched, cheated, played cards, bullied visitors for vails: …
3. (by extension) To consume anything quickly, greedily, or to excess, as if with insatiable thirst.This car just guzzles petrol.
• 2004, Mike Rigby, quoted in The Freefoam Roofline Report, http://michaelrigbyassociates.com/pages/research/quarterly/readreport35166.htmChina continues full steam ahead and the Americans continue to guzzle fuel, while supply becomes restricted.

Synonyms

• (to drink quickly, voraciously) swig, swill

Derived terms

• guzzler

Noun

1. (dated, uncountable) Drink; intoxicating liquor.Where squander'd away the tiresome minutes of your evening leisure over seal'd Winchesters of threepenny guzzle! — Tom Brown (satirist)
2. (dated) A drinking bout; a debauch.
3. (dated) An insatiable thing or person.
4. (obsolete, British, provincial) A drain or ditch; a gutter; sometimes, a small stream. Also called guzzen.
• 1598, John Marston, The Scourge of Villanie Google BooksMeans't thou that senseless, sensual epicure,
  That sink of filth, that guzzle most impure?
• 1623, W. Whately, Bride Bush,This is all one thing as if hee should goe about to jussle her into some filthy stinking guzzle or ditch.