guzzle

English

Etymology

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”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌzəl

Verb

guzzle (third-person singular simple present guzzles, present participle guzzling, simple past and past participle guzzled)

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 Books

     No more her care shall fill the hollow tray, / To fat the guzzling hogs with floods of whey.

   • 1971, Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley, “Oompa Loompa, Doompa-Dee-Do”, from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

     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, Eikonoklastes, Google Books

     A comparison more properly bestowed on those that came to guzzle in his wine cellar.

   • 1684, Roscommon, Essay on Translated Verse, Google Books

     Well-seasoned bowls the gossip's spirits raise, Who, while she guzzles, chats the doctor's praise.

   • 1859, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Virginians, Google Books

     Every 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, [1]

     China continues full steam ahead and the Americans continue to guzzle fuel, while supply becomes restricted.

Synonyms

• (to drink quickly, voraciously): swig, swill

Translations

To drink (or sometimes eat) voraciously

• Arabic: أسرف في الشراب (ar) ('ásrafa fi al-sharaab)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 暴飲 (cmn), 暴饮 (cmn) (bàoyǐn)

• French: engloutir (fr), (informal) siffler du vin (fr) (wine), (informal) bouffer (fr)
• German: saufen (de)
• Japanese: ガブガブ飲む (ja) (gabugabu-nomu)

• Russian: жадно пить (ru) (žádno pit'), пить с жадностью (ru) (pit' s žádnost'ju), пьянствовать (ru) (p'jánstvovat') (drink alcohol excessively), (binge-drink) бухать (ru) (buxát')
• Serbo-Croatian: lokati (sh)
• Spanish: engullir (es) (to eat voraciuosly)

(by extension) to consume anything greedily

• French: (informal) bouffer (fr)

• Russian: пожирать (ru) (požirát')

Derived terms

• guzzler

See also

• guttle
• guddle

Noun

guzzle (plural guzzles)

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

2. (dated) A drinking bout; a debauch.
3. (dated) An insatiable thing or person.
4. (obsolete, UK, provincial) A drain or ditch; a gutter; sometimes, a small stream. Also called guzzen.
   • 1598, John Marston, The Scourge of Villanie Google Books

     Means'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.