Guzzling

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Engaging in the enthusiastic and excessive consumption of liquids or solids involves a greedy and rapid intake that often exceeds normal amounts
2. Consuming food or drink with eagerness and in large amounts much faster than usual
3. Taking in liquids or meals swiftly and greedily, often seeming unrestrained or voracious

Etymology: "Guzzling" is the present participle of "guzzle," and the verb's origins are uncertain. One explanation is that it is imitative, echoing the gulping sound a person makes when drinking eagerly. The other traces it to Old French "gouziller" or "gosillier," meaning "to pass through the throat," which came from "gosier," the word for throat. That French root has a relative in Italian, "gozzo," which means throat or a bird's crop, the pouch where birds store food before digestion. The English verb is first recorded in 1576, so it arrived in the late sixteenth century. Whichever route it took, the word began as something close to a physical act of swallowing and kept that sense of a throat working hard. The current meaning of rapid, greedy consumption grows directly from that picture of food or drink pushed down quickly and in large quantities.

Synonyms: gulping, swigging, chugging, slurping, draining

Antonyms: sipping, tasting, nibbling, savoring, conserving