gobble

Word family

Related topics: Birds

gob·ble /ˈɡɒbəl $ ˈɡɑː-/ verb informal

1 (also gobble up/down) [intransitiveI, transitiveT]EAT to eat something very quickly, especially in an impolite or greedy way 狼吞虎咽，大嚼〔某物〕 SYN wolf

Don’t gobble your food!

吃东西别狼吞虎咽的！

She gobbled down her lunch.

她几口就吃完了午饭。

2. [intransitiveI]HBB to make a sound like a turkey 〔像火鸡一样〕咯咯叫

3 gobble sth↔ up phrasal verbphr v informal

a) if one company gobbles up a smaller company, it buys it and takes control of it 吞并〔较小的公司〕

Air France gobbled up its main French rivals, Air Inter and UTA.

法国航空公司吞并了它在法国的两个主要竞争对手——法国国内航空公司和法国联合航空运输公司。

b) to quickly use a lot of a supply of something such as money or land 很快消耗掉〔钱款、土地等〕

Inflation has gobbled up our wage increases.

通货膨胀抵消了我们工资的增长。

c) to eat something very quickly, especially in an impolite or greedy way 狼吞虎咽地吃

We gobbled up all of the cake in one evening.

我们一个晚上就把蛋糕全部吃光了。

Examples from the Corpus

gobble up• A big white heron gallops out of the creek on his gawky orange legs and gobbles it up.• She was about to grab it when a giant gecko sprang in a flash from the eaves and gobbled it up.• The big fish, seeing the little one there, glides into the basket to gobble him up.• They opened their mouths to show her sharp tongues and teeth, ready to bite, gobble her up.• I gobbled it up and pointed that I wanted another.• A.. The trend of companies gobbling each other up seems to have ended, which is nice.• If gazing could gobble you up, she'd have been picked clean.• Even if a bigger corporate fish gobbles it up, your service should continue uninterrupted.

—gobble noun [countableC]

Examples from the Corpus

gobble• I heard wild turkeys gobbling and saw white-tailed deer.• For three mornings I watched her gobble eggs.• The big fish, seeing the little one there, glides into the basket to gobble him up.• We gobbled up all of the cake in one evening.• Housing costs gobble up almost half of our budget.• Somehow a collection for the next few months was cobbled together and gobbled up by the hungry customers.• Not that it stopped her from gobbling up every cultural titbit dropped before her.

Origin gobble

1. (1600-1700) Probably from gob

2. (1600-1700) From the sound

gob·ble verb

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus