disgorge

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English disgorgen,^[2] borrowed from Old French desgorger (“to disgorge, pour out”),^[3][4][5][6] which Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Dictionary.com label Middle French,^[7][8] from des- and gorge (“throat”).^[4][3][7][9] The American Heritage Dictionary sees in it gorger (“to pack”), itself from the noun.^[2] The modern form is French dégorger, the source of degorge,^[3] and the OED compares Italian sgorgare and disgorgare.^[3] Etymonline takes the noun to Late Latin gurges (“gullet, throat”),^[4] but the OED derives it from a popular Latin *gorga of unknown origin and calls a link with gurges very doubtful.^[3] Weekley thought the verb apparently came from the language of falconry.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

To throw out from the throat, to vomit forth what has been swallowed: 1477, in Caxton's translation of Le Fèvre's History of Jason.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The bodily sense soon had a figurative use: by 1523 the word meant discharging as if from a mouth, and in particular giving up what had been wrongly taken.^[3][6] Weekley called the word usually figurative in 1921.^[10] From before 1593 the object could also be what was emptied, such as the stomach or the mouth.^[3] Since 1607 a thing could disgorge itself, as a river does into the sea.^[3][6] Johnson (1755) gave "to vomit" first and "to pour out with violence" second, quoting Milton's rivers that "disgorge into the burning lake".^[11] A short-lived term in horse-doctoring, for dispersing a congestion, followed the French verb (1727–53).^[3] Winemakers have used it since 1817 for expelling the sediment from sparkling wine.^[3] Modern dictionaries add discharging crowds or vehicles' passengers and, under pressure, surrendering information.^[7][6] Anglers' use, removing a hook from a fish's throat, goes with disgorger, the tool for it, from the mid 19th century.^[12][6]

Timeline

• 1477 – to vomit forth, to throw out from the throat.^[3]
• before 1523 – figurative, to discharge as if from a mouth; to give up what was wrongly taken.^[3]
• before 1593 – to empty the stomach, mouth or the like.^[3]
• 1607 – reflexive, to empty oneself, to discharge.^[3]
• 1727 – in horse-doctoring, to disperse a congestion (obsolete after 1753).^[3]
• 1817 – in winemaking, to expel the sediment from a bottle.^[3]
• mid 19th century – disgorger, a device for taking a hook from a fish's throat.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To throw out from the throat or stomach; to vomit.^[12][7][3]
2. To discharge or pour out with force, or as if from a mouth: The ferry disgorged its passengers onto the quay.^[7][12][3]
3. To give up unwillingly, especially something wrongly obtained: Caught out, the treasurer had to disgorge the money.^[12][6][3]
4. To reveal information on request or under pressure.^[7]
5. To empty something of its contents; of a river, to discharge itself.^[12][3][6]
6. (angling) To remove a hook from the mouth or throat of a fish.^[12]
7. (winemaking) To remove the sediment from sparkling wine by expelling it under pressure from an inverted bottle.^[3]

Word family

• disgorgement
• disgorger
• undisgorged

Related words

• gorge
• engorge
• degorge

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins