Etymologically
Log in

gobble

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the English word gobble

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈɡɒbl̩/[1]
  • US: /ˈɡɑbl̩/[1]

gobble1 to eat greedily

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1583 Golding's translation of Calvin's Sermons on Deuteronomy
Ultimate origin
Middle French gobe

Etymology

The word for eating greedily is probably formed from English gob + -le, the frequentative suffix,[2][3][4][5][6] perhaps also partly imitative of the noise of swallowing.[2][7] The American Heritage Dictionary sees it as a frequentative of gobben (“to drink greedily”),[8] recorded in “Piers Plowman” about 1425.[9] Gob, a mouthful or lump, is apparently from Middle French gobe (“a mouthful, lump”), from a Celtic base.[2] Klein derives the verb from French gober (“to gulp down, swallow”),[10] as Johnson had done.[11] The OED allows some association with the unrelated gobbet, and cites an earlier use of gob as a verb in the same meaning, from 1565.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To swallow hastily and noisily, in its first record used figuratively: 1583, in Arthur Golding's translation of Calvin's sermons on Deuteronomy.[2] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster Unabridged date it to 1601,[6][3] and Etymonline to about 1600.[7]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined it as swallowing "hastily with tumult and noise".[11] In American slang from 1825 it came to mean seizing or appropriating eagerly, and so to grab, steal or arrest,[2][12] and since 1901 it was used of machines consuming fuel or energy wastefully.[2] It has also been a slang word for oral sex, as a verb from 1928 and a noun from 1965.[2][12] The noun, a hurried mouthful, is recorded from 1794, and in golf a gobble was a fast putt into the hole (1857).[2][4] In Scots and English dialect the verb was used for eating greedily in large mouthfuls, and figuratively.[13]

Timeline

  • 1583 – to swallow hastily and noisily, first figuratively.[2]
  • 1794 – noun, a hurried mouthful.[2]
  • 1825 – to seize, grab, appropriate eagerly (US slang).[2][12]
  • 1857 – noun, in golf, a fast putt into the hole.[2][4]
  • 1901 – to use up fuel or energy fast.[2]
  • 1928 – slang, to perform oral sex on.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To eat quickly, greedily and noisily, often with up or down: The children gobbled their sandwiches.[14][3][2]
  2. To take or seize eagerly, often with up: The large firm gobbled up its rivals.[14][3][2]
  3. To use up quickly, as fuel or money.[2]
  4. (slang) To perform fellatio on.[2][12]

Noun

  1. (golf) A fast putt into the hole.[2][4][10]

gobble2 turkey's cry

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Onomatopoeia
First attested
1680 R. Morden's Geography Rectified

Etymology

The word for the turkey's cry is imitative,[2][3][4][8][5][15] probably influenced by the verb for eating greedily,[2][4][7] and perhaps by gargle, according to Etymonline.[7] Klein and Weekley compare gabble,[10][15] and Dictionary.com calls it a variant of that word.[16]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a male turkey, to make its gurgling sound in the throat: 1680, in R. Morden's Geography Rectified.[2][6][3] Etymonline dates it to the 1670s.[7]

Semantic evolution

The noun, the turkey's cry, is recorded from 1781,[2][6][7] and the interjection imitating it from 1707.[2] The verb was also used of people making a similar sound in speaking.[4][2] In 20th-century American slang it meant to chatter or talk incoherently.[12] A gobbler, a male turkey, is recorded from 1737,[6] and gobbledygook, pompous official jargon, was formed in American English in 1944 in imitation of the turkey's gobbling.[6]

Timeline

  • 1680 – of a turkey cock, to make its gurgling cry.[2][6][3]
  • 1707 – interjection imitating the turkey's cry.[2]
  • 1781 – noun, the turkey's cry.[2][6][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. Of a male turkey, to make its throaty, gurgling call.[3][14][2]
  2. To make, or say something with, a sound like a turkey's.[3][4][2]

Noun

  1. The cry of a turkey cock.[3][2][4]

Word family

  • gobbler

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  10. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ a b 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 Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  15. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  16. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Gobble.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/gobble. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·