gulp
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English gulpen, probably from West Flemish or Middle Dutch gulpen, golpen, probably of imitative origin.
Related to West Frisian gjalpe, gjalpje, gjealpje (“to gush, spurt forth”), Danish gulpe, gylpe (“to gulp up, disgorge”), dialectal Swedish glapa (“to gulp down”), Old English gealpettan (“to gulp down, eat greedily, devour”). More at galp.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
gulp (plural gulps)
- The usual amount swallowed.
- Synonym: slug
- 1898, J. Meade Falkner, chapter 4, in Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934:
- What the liquor was I do not know, but it was not so strong but that I could swallow it in great gulps and found it less burning than my burning throat.
- The sound of swallowing, sometimes indicating fear.
- 1905, Upton Sinclair, chapter XVII, in The Jungle, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 26 February 1906, →OCLC:
- Little Stanislovas was also trembling, and all but too frightened to speak. "They — they sent me to tell you — " he said, with a gulp.
- 1994, James Charles Collins, Jerry I. Porras, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
- Indeed, the envisioned future should produce a bit of "the gulp factor" […] , there should be an almost audible "gulp".
- (rare, computing) An unspecified small number of bytes, often two.
TranslationsEdit
usual amount swallowed
|
sound of swallowing
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
VerbEdit
gulp (third-person singular simple present gulps, present participle gulping, simple past and past participle gulped)
- To swallow eagerly, or in large draughts; to swallow up; to take down in one swallow.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:drink
- To react nervously by swallowing.
- 1930, P. G. Wodehouse, A Damsel in Distress, 2004, page 198
- The man eyed Percy with a chilly eye. "Well," he said, "What's troublin you?" Percy gulped. The man's mere appearance was a sedative. "Er-nothing! […]"
- 2003, Carl Deuker, High Heat, page 140
- I'd always been nervous-excited; this was nervous-terrified. When I finished puking, I sat down gulping air for a while, trying to pull myself together.
- 2006, Nancy Anne Nicholson, Thin White Female in No Acute Distress: A Memoir, page 187
- My heart was beating madly and I was gulping nervous energy.
- 1930, P. G. Wodehouse, A Damsel in Distress, 2004, page 198
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
to swallow eagerly, or in large draughts
|
to react nervously
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
InterjectionEdit
gulp
- An indication of (the sound of) an involuntary fear reaction in the form of a swallowing motion.
- Synonym: ulp
- 1982, Gary Smalley, If Only He Knew, page 163:
- "Honey, I know you want to go to their home next week, but there's one thing that keeps happening when we're together that really drives me away from social gatherings in general. (Oh, what is it … gulp.) Well, I'm not sure I can really explain it without offending you. (Gulp, gulp.) Do you really want to talk about it? (Yes.) […]"
Further readingEdit
swallowing on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
- “gulp”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
AnagramsEdit
DutchEdit
EtymologyEdit
Uncertain; possibly from glop (“hole, opening”); also compare gleuf (“slot, slit”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
gulp f (plural gulpen, diminutive gulpje n)
- fly; opening in a man's pants to facilitate relieving himself
DescendantsEdit
Further readingEdit
- van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “gulp2”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute
TurkmenEdit
NounEdit
gulp