Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To drink greedily or habitually.
  • intransitive verb To consume to excess.
  • intransitive verb To drink, especially alcoholic beverages, greedily or habitually.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To swallow liquor greedily; swill; drink much; drink frequently.
  • To swallow often or much of; swallow greedily.
  • noun An insatiable thing or person.
  • noun Drink; intoxicating liquor.
  • noun A drinking-bout; a debauch.
  • noun A drain or ditch; sometimes, a small stream. Also called a guzzen. Halliwell.
  • Filthy; sensual.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An insatiable thing or person.
  • intransitive verb To swallow liquor greedily; to drink much or frequently.
  • transitive verb To swallow much or often; to swallow with immoderate gust; to drink greedily or continually.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To drink (or, sometimes, eat) quickly, voraciously, or to excess; to gulp down; to swallow greedily, continually, or with gust.
  • verb intransitive, dated To consume alcoholic beverages, especially frequently or habitually.
  • verb by extension To consume anything quickly, greedily, or to excess, as if with insatiable thirst.
  • noun dated, uncountable Drink; intoxicating liquor.
  • noun dated A drinking bout; a debauch.
  • noun dated An insatiable thing or person.
  • noun obsolete, UK, provincial A drain or ditch; a gutter; sometimes, a small stream. Also called guzzen.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb drink greedily or as if with great thirst

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word guzzle.

Examples

  • TV Guide Magazine: The wine you guys guzzle is grape juice, right?

    Josh Hopkins Talks Life in Cougar Town 2010

  • Everett J.hnston was in Crystal Beach on March 21, 2008, when he began to "guzzle" a can of Tecate Light, according to the lawsuit filed March 19 by attorney Roy J. Elizondo III in Galveston's 122nd District Court.

    The Daily News - News 2010

  • Everett J.hnston was in Crystal Beach on March 21, 2008, when he began to "guzzle" a can of Tecate Light, according to the lawsuit filed March 19 by attorney Roy J. Elizondo III in Galveston's 122nd District Court.

    The Daily News - News 2010

  • Everett J.hnston was in Crystal Beach on March 21, 2008, when he began to "guzzle" a can of Tecate Light, according to the lawsuit filed March 19 by attorney Roy J. Elizondo III in Galveston's 122nd District Court.

    The Daily News - News 2010

  • Everett J.hnston was in Crystal Beach on March 21, 2008, when he began to "guzzle" a can of Tecate Light, according to the lawsuit filed March 19 by attorney Roy J. Elizondo III in Galveston's 122nd District Court.

    The Daily News - News 2010

  • Everett J.hnston was in Crystal Beach on March 21, 2008, when he began to "guzzle" a can of Tecate Light, according to the lawsuit filed March 19 by attorney Roy J. Elizondo III in Galveston's 122nd District Court.

    The Daily News - News 2010

  • Everett J.hnston was in Crystal Beach on March 21, 2008, when he began to "guzzle" a can of Tecate Light, according to the lawsuit filed March 19 by attorney Roy J. Elizondo III in Galveston's 122nd District Court.

    The Daily News - News 2010

  • He said energy projects "guzzle" cash and it would not be "prudent" to keep them on Exxaro's balance sheet.

    IOL: News 2010

  • Everett J.hnston was in Crystal Beach on March 21, 2008, when he began to "guzzle" a can of Tecate Light, according to the lawsuit filed March 19 by attorney Roy J. Elizondo III in Galveston's 122nd District Court.

    The Daily News - News 2010

  • It is also reminiscent of "guzzle" which is in effect what you do .. hoovering up the incessant feeds on the website.

    Shiny Shiny Anna Leach 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "'In 1662, the town agreed that a part of every whale cast on shore be appropriated for the support of the ministry.' …Think of a whale having the breath of life beaten out of him by a storm, and dragging in over the bars and guzzles, for the support of the ministry! What a consolation it must have been to him!"

    - Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod.

    June 13, 2008