▪ I. gurgle, n.
(ˈgɜːg(ə)l)
[f. gurgle v. Cf. the parallel forms cited there.]
† 1. = gargle n. 1. Obs.
| 1562 W. Bullein Def. agst. Sickness, Compounds (1579) 35 b, A Gargarizme or washing Gurgle, for the Mouth and Throate. |
2. The action or an act of gurgling; the noise made by liquid escaping intermittently from a vessel, of a stream flowing over a stony bed, etc.
| 1757 W. Thompson Bower 26 Flow, flow, thou Crystall-Rill, With tinkling gurgles fill The Mazes of the Grove. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. (1858) 9 A gurgle of innumerable emptying bumpers. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. viii. 59 Streams..plunged into the depths of the ice, flowed under it with hollow gurgle. 1879 R. H. Elliot Written on Forehead I. 119 The gurgle made by the pebbles of the shingle as they roll ceaselessly to and fro. 1897 Blackmore in Blackw. Mag. Sept. 362 The light itself seemed to come in gurgles. |
b. A guttural sound such as is produced by irregular emission of air from the throat, gargling, or the like.
| 1862 Shirley Nugæ Crit. vi. 239 The rich gurgle of the peesweet. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. vi. ii. (1872) II. 140 He..gasped some gurgle of a sound like ‘Osnabrück’. 1869 Trollope He knew xxiv. (1878) 136 There came a faint sound as of an hysterical sob, and then a gurgle in the throat. |
▪ II. gurgle, v.
(ˈgɜːg(ə)l)
Also 6 gurgull.
[Parallel forms are Du., MLG. gorgelen, G. gurgeln (Sw. gurgla, Da. gurgle, prob. from LG.) to gargle, and It. gorgogliare to gargle, bubble up, boil, rattle, Pg. gurgulhar to gush out, bubble, perh.:—L. *gurguliāre, f. gurgulio gullet, which appears to be the origin of the cogn. ns. Du. gorgel, OHG. gurgulâ (MHG., G. gurgel) and Pr. gorgolh. Whether the Eng. word is a direct adaptation of any of those vbs. or is a native echoic formation is not clear. Cf. gargle, guggle.]
† 1. intr. = gargle v. Obs.
| 1562 W. Bullein Def. agst. Sickness, Compounds (1579) 35 b, marg. A gargarizme to gurgull in the mouth and throate. 1611 Florio, Gargareggiare, to gargarize, to gurgle. |
2. Of water or other liquid: To flow in a broken irregular current, with intermittent low noises, as water from a bottle, or a stream among stones.
| [? 1635: see gurl v. 2.] 1713 Rowe Lady Jane Grey ii. i. Wks. (1720) 33 Neverceasing Waters..That purl and gurgle o'er their Sands for ever. 1789 Burns To Mary in Heaven iii, Ayr gurgling kiss'd his pebbled shore. 1821 Keats Isabella xxvii, Where Arno's stream Gurgles through straighten'd banks. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge lix, He..sent the wine gurgling down his throat. 1894 Sala London up to Date ii. 32 Rare hocks that gurgle in the glass when poured out. |
b. transf. To make a noise as of liquid issuing from a bottle, bubbling, or the like; to utter intermittent guttural sounds.
| 1779 Mason Eng. Garden iii. 487 She will plain, and gurgle, as she goes, As does the widow'd ring-dove. 1857–8 Sears Athan. ii. xi. 240 Paul is so full of this thought, that, whenever he touches upon the theme, his language gurgles from his lips. 1880 Jefferies Gt. Estate vii. 133 The cuckoo began to lose his voice; he gurgled and gasped, and cried ‘cuck—kuk—kwai—kash’. 1892 Sunday Mag. June 425/1 Baby is lying in mother's lap, crooling and gurgling. |
3. trans. To utter with gurgling sounds. Also, to gurgle down: to swallow with a gurgle.
| 1814 Cary Dante, Inf. vii. 128 Such dolorous strain they gurgle in their throats. 1825 C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 314 Gurgling down the glutinous calipash. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. i. iii, He gurgled-out his pursy chuckle of a cough-laugh. 1854 Thackeray Newcomes I. ix. 96 ‘A mother's bl-l-essings go with you’, gurgled the lady. 1865 J. Thomson Sunday up River xi. iii, When your voice has gurgled the last sweet note. |