▪ I. gulp, n.1
(gʌlp)
Also 6–7 gulpe, 7–8 gulph, 8 Sc. gowp.
[f. gulp v. Cf. Du. gulp stream or flush of water, large draught of liquid.]
1. The action or an act of gulping or swallowing in large portions.
| 1568 Hist. Jacob & Esau ii. iii, I at the ladell got a goulpe or a licke. 1625–6 Purchas Pilgrims ii. 1540 They give the accused to drinke saying that if hee bee innocent he shall drink it off at one gulp without any stay. 1807 Med. Jrnl. XVII. 345 He succeeded in getting down, at a single gulp, the small quantity of liquid he had taken into his mouth. 1837 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 64 Dissolving it in a tumbler of water and swallowing it all at one gulp. 1870 Lowell Study Wind. 8 [The robin] eats with a relishing gulp not inferior to Dr. Johnson's. |
b. trans. and fig.
| 1610 Beaum. & Fl. Scornf. Lady i. i, He hath suck'd in ten thousand pounds worth of my land more than he paid for, at a gulp. 1669 Woodhead St. Teresa i. xxii. 147 All those joys which she [the soul] took, came to her but by sups, and gulps. 1726 De Foe Hist. Devil (1840) i. vi. 72 Hell received them all at a gulp. 1758 A. Murphy Upholsterer ii. (1763) 27 Quid. What, and will the People believe that now? Pamph. Believe it!—believe any thing,—no Swallow like a true-born Englishman's..they give a Gulp,—and down it goes. 1876 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. ii. 171 The sweetness of the verse enables the fancy, by a slight gulp, to swallow without solution the problem of being in two places at the same time. |
c. Capacity for gulping; ‘swallow’. rare—1.
| 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. i. vi, Here too is a Swallower of Formulas; of still wider gulp than Mirabeau. |
d. An effort to swallow; the noise caused by this; a choke.
| 1873 Holland A. Bonnic. v. 83 He gave a convulsive gulp as if his heart had risen to his throat and he were struggling to keep it down. 1887 R. Buchanan Heir of Linne i, The smith, with a great gulp in his throat, threw a handful of coppers into the singer's hat. |
2. As much as is swallowed at a gulp; a mouthful.
| 1611 Cotgr., Goulette de vin, a gulpe, mouthfull, or small quantitie of wine. 1637 G. Daniel Genius this Isle 171 Goblets of blood he Qvaffes; and everie Gulpe Steam's in his cankred throte. 1700 Dryden Fables, Ceyx & Alcyone 222 As oft as he can catch a gulp of air And peep above the seas, he names the fair. 1755 Smollett Quix. (1803) IV. 112 He was fain to break his fast with a little conserve, and four gulps of cold water. 1862 Tyndall Mountaineer. vi. 55 He had..a gulp of wine, which mightily refreshed him. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. vii, ‘I was down at the water-side’, said Venus,..taking another gulp of tea. |
▪ II. † gulp, n.2 Obs. rare—1.
[? ad. Sp. golpe blow.]
? Impact, shock.
| 1598 Barret Theor. Warres v. i. 124 To resist and beare of the blow and gulpe of the artillery. |
▪ III. gulp, v.
(gʌlp)
Forms: 5 gulpe, golpe, 6 goulpe, 9 Sc. gowp, 6– gulp.
[Echoic; cf. Du. gulpen to swallow, guzzle, to issue in streams; also globbe, gloff, glop v.2, gloup; also MSw. glup throat, glupsk voracious, Sw. dial. glapa to gulp down.]
1. trans. To swallow in large draughts or morsels hastily or with greediness. Chiefly with down, † formerly also in, up.
| 14.. Langland's P. Pl. A. v. 191 (MSS. T. and U.) Y-gulpid, y-golped [see gloup v.]. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 119 Charybdis..after a litle tyme, casteth vp again whatsoeuer it goulped in before. 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. clxvii. 1036 Although hee powre in neuer so much wyne, yet is he neuer filled but doeth still gulp it vp without ende of drinking. 1735 Somerville Chase i. 182 With greedy Joy Gulp down the flying Wave. 1784 Cowper Task v. 269 Inflated and astrut with self conceit He gulps the windy diet. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) III. 282 The convulsive spasms about the throat obliged her to gulp what she swallowed. 1842 Thackeray Fitz-Boodle's Conf., Ottilia i, Several tumblers of punch..I had gulped down without saying a word. 1843 Le Fevre Life Trav. Phys. II. ii. v. 220 The Russians..rise from table..before the last mouthful is well gulped down. 1890 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. III. 256 The big fishes gulping the little ones. |
b. absol.
| 1714 Gay Trivia ii. 191, I..See them puff off the froth, and gulp amain, While with dry tongue I lick my lips in vain. 1740 Garrick Lying Valet i. Wks. 1798 I. 34 Nothing, while honour sticks in your throat: do gulp, master, and down with it. 1787 F. Burney Diary Nov., I gulped as well as I could at dinner. 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset I. xxxii. 267 She could only gulp at it, and swallow it. |
2. transf. and fig. Chiefly to gulp down: a. To swallow up, devour, take in. (Also with up.)
| a 1625 Beaum. & Fl. Wit without M. i. ii, Lance. Has he devour'd you too? Fran. Has gulped me downe, Lance. Lance. Left you no meanes to study. Fran. Not a farthing: Dispatcht my poore annuity, I thanke him. a 1754 Fielding Voy. Lisbon Wks. 1784 X. 259 The old man..glibly gulped down the whole narrative. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) I. 318 So many brooks and springs..collected from every quarter, to be gulped up in one great navigable canal. 1816 Scott Antiq. v, The worthy knight fairly gulped down the oaths. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 21 Aug. 6/1 Gulping down any scheme of vain promise. |
b. To keep in or ‘stifle’ by a process analogous to swallowing. (Also with in, back.)
| 1644 Quarles Barnabas & B. i, Gulp downe care in frolique cups of liberall Wine. 1778 F. Burney Diary Sept., [As] reproaches and expostulations..can do no good, I gulp them down. c 1793 Ld. Bulkely in G. Rose's Diaries (1860) I. 131, I gulped in the grievance. 1839–40 W. Irving Wolfert's R. (1855) 193, I felt my heart swell in my throat; but I gulped it back to its place. 1869 Trollope He Knew xxviii. (1878) 157 [She] had gulped down her sobs and was resolved to be firm. |
3. intr. To gasp or choke when or as when drinking large draughts of liquid.
| 1530 Palsgr. 573/2, I goulpe, as drinke dothe in ones throte that drinketh hastely, je crocque..and je engoule. 1790 Cowper Let. 11 May, He is ever gulping, as if swallowing somewhat that would hardly pass. 1840 Marryat Olla Podr. 304 She gulped when she looked at it, and..cried herself to sleep. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. i. Bagman's Dog, Poor Blogg went on ducking and bobbing, Sneezing out the salt water, and gulping and sobbing. 1894 Outing (U.S.) XXXIV. 140/2 Tom gasps apologies, opens his mouth to comment, but only gulps. |