Definition

1. Verb (Transitive/Intransitive):

   • To eat something quickly and greedily: To consume food in a hurried, noisy, and often careless manner.
   • To make the characteristic sound of a male turkey: To produce a rapid, guttural, bubbling call.

2. Noun (Countable):

   • The characteristic sound made by a male turkey: A rapid series of guttural sounds.

Usage and Examples

• Verb (Eating):
  • He gobbled his lunch in five minutes because he was late.
  • The children gobbled up all the cookies.
• Verb (Sound):
  • We could hear the turkeys gobbling in the farmyard.
• Noun (Sound):
  • The loud gobble of the turkey echoed through the woods.

Advanced Usage and Notes

• Figurative Use: "Gobble" can be used figuratively to describe consuming or using something quickly and completely, often resources.
  • The new software update gobbles up a lot of memory.
  • The large corporation gobbled up several smaller competitors.
• The phrase "gobble down" or "gobble up" is very common when referring to eating. "Up" often emphasizes completeness.

Variants and Related Words

• Gobbler (noun): A male turkey; informally, a person who eats greedily.
• Gobbling (noun/adj): The act or sound of eating greedily or of a turkey's call.

Synonyms

• For eating: Devour, wolf (down), bolt, gorge, guzzle.
• For the sound: There is no direct common synonym; "turkey call" is a descriptive phrase.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Gobble down: To eat something very quickly.
  • She gobbled down her breakfast and ran out the door.
• Gobble up:
  • To eat all of something quickly.

    • The kids gobbled up the popcorn.
  • To use or absorb something in large amounts.

    • The long commute gobbles up three hours of my day.
  • To acquire or take over something completely.

    • The giant tech company gobbled up the startup.

Related Idioms

• While there are no major idioms with "gobble" as the key word, the verb is frequently used in the patterns described above (gobble up/down).

Noun

1. the characteristic sound made by a turkey cock

Verb

1. make a gurgling sound, characteristic of turkeys
2. eat hastily without proper chewing
   • Don't bolt your food!