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guttle

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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WOTD – 13 October 2022

Pronunciation

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Hinko Smrekar, Požrešnost (Gluttony, 1927).[n 1]

Etymology 1

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The verb is possibly derived from gut (“belly”) +‎ -le (frequentative suffix), perhaps influenced by guzzle (“to drink or eat quickly, voraciously, or to excess; to gulp down; to swallow greedily, continually, or with gusto”).[1][2]

The noun is derived from the verb.[3]

Verb

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guttle (third-person singular simple present guttles, present participle guttling, simple past and past participle guttled) (archaic or UK, dialectal)

  1. (transitive) Often followed by down or up: to swallow (something) greedily; to gobble, to guzzle.
    Synonyms: ingurgitate, scarf, scoff, wolf down; see also Thesaurus:eat
  2. (intransitive) To eat voraciously; to gorge.
    Synonym: gormandize
    • 1693, Aulus Persius Flaccus, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus.] The Sixth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, pages 78–79:
      One, Frugal, on his Birth-Day fears to dine: / Does at a Penny's coſt in Herbs repine, / And hardly dares to dip his Fingers in the Brine. / Prepar'd as Prieſt of his ovvn Rites, to ſtand, / He ſprinkles Pepper vvith a ſparing hand. / His Jolly Brother, oppoſite in ſence, / Laughs at his Thrift; and laviſh of Expence, / Quaffs, Crams, and Guttles, in his ovvn defence.
    • a. 1765 (date written), C[harles] Churchill, “The Times”, in Poems […], volume II, [London]: [s.n.], published 1768, →OCLC, page 258:
      Time vvas, e'er Temperance had fled the realm; / E're Luxury ſat guttling at the helm / From meal to meal, vvithout one moment's ſpace […]
    • 1771, [Johann Georg Ritter von] Zimmermann, “Of the Vanity of Whole Nations”, in [Samuel Hull Wilcocke], transl., An Essay on National Pride, […], London: […] J. Wilkie, […], and C. Heydinger […], →OCLC, page 46:
      In a vvord, an Engliſhman, after guttling on pudding and beef, vvell diluted vvith ſtrong beer, talks avvay, of all other nations, as if they had not the ſame creator.
    • 1782, “A Key to the Modern System of Moral and Political Empiricism; or, A New Catechism à-la-Mode, for the Use of St. Stephen’s Chapel, and All Sober Families in the Beau Monde”, in The London Magazine: Or, Gentlemans Monthly Intelligencer: Appendix to the London Magazine for 1782, volume LI, London: […] R[oberts] Baldwin, […], →OCLC, page 621, column 2:
      Here idiotiſm is inveſted vvith place and honour, and a goat or a ſvvine guttles in a chair of ſtate.
    • 1783, [William O’Brien], “A Lecture on Eating and Drinking: Spoken in the Character of a Drunken Parson”, in The Lusorium; Being a Collection of Convivial Songs, Lectures, &ct. […], 2nd edition, [London?]: […] C. O’Brien, […]; sold by Mr. Lewis, […], Mr. Durham, […], Mr. Steel, […], Mrs. Peat, […], Mr. Tomlinson, […], →OCLC, page 23:
      I am perſuaded, my dearly beloved, that no man vvould guttle, or gormandize, on our modern ſtevvs, ſoups, ſpiced meats, and the like, if he had but a doctor's bill lying before him, and reflected on the enormous charge for an emetic; or if he conſidered that he vvho guttleth maketh his body a kind of barbecued hog, […]
    • 1837, [William] White, “Section III. The Evils of Quarantine Laws, and Non-existence of Pestilential Contagion.”, in The Evils of Quarantine Laws, and Non-existence of Pestilential Contagion; […], London: Effingham Wilson, […], →OCLC, page 79:
      The learned doctor declares that "soup" is an excellent substitute for "solid diet;" and that starvation with the poor is almost equivalent to gormandizing and guttling with "the more substantial classes of society."
    • 1841, Michael Angelo Titmarsh [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “Papers by Mr. Yellowplush, Sometime Footman in Many Genteel Families. I. Miss Shum’s Husband. Chapter I.”, in Comic Tales and Sketches. […], volume I, London: Hugh Cunningham, […], →OCLC, page 2:
      [T]here we were, quarrelling and making up, sober and tipsy, starving and guttling by turns, just as ma got money or spent it.
    • 1890s, Poverty Knock; quoted in Ian Watson, “Song and Work”, in Song and Democratic Culture in Britain: An Approach to Popular Culture in Social Movements, London, Canberra, A.C.T.: Croom Helm; New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, 1983, →ISBN, page 106:
      Poverty, poverty knock, My loom is sayin' all day. / […] / I know I can guttle, when I hear my shuttle, go / Poverty, poverty knock.
      Quotation of a 19th-century song called “Poverty Knock”; the title refers to the repetitive sound of the loom.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Noun

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guttle (plural guttles)

  1. (UK, dialectal)
    1. An act of swallowing voraciously.
      • 1817 October 4, William Hone, “The Guttlers, and the New Lord Mayor”, in The Reformists’ Register, and Weekly Commentary, volume II, number 11, London: […] William Hone, […], →OCLC, column 324:
        The top of the great stained glass windows at each end of the hall, are cut off to accommodate a new flat plaster roof;—the old Gothic one, with its rich groining and carved work, could not be renewed but at the expense of at least two guttles!
      • 1884, Robert Louis Stevenson, W[illiam] E[rnest] Henley, “Admiral Guinea”, in Sidney Colvin, editor, The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Edinburgh edition, volume XXIII (Drama), Edinburgh: […] T[homas] and A[rchibald] Constable for Longmans Green and Co.;  […], published 1897, →OCLC, Act I, scene viii, page 199:
        You don't know what it is to want rum, you don't: it gets to that p'int that you would kill a 'ole ship's company for just one guttle of it.
    2. One who eats voraciously; a glutton.
      Synonyms: gorger, gourmandizer, guttler; see also Thesaurus:glutton
      • 1839, “A devoted friend, to non-intrusion” [pseudonym], “Dedication. To the Farmers in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright.”, in A Letter to William Maxwell, Esq., Younger, of Cardoness, Addressed to Him as a Candidate for Parliament: […], Manchester: Thomas Smith, […], →OCLC, page xv:
        [P]lague tak the greedy guttles, I wish they wud gie ae meal, out o' the five, to their head.
      • [1866, Augustus Mayhew, “The Almanack of Successful Courtship; […]”, in Faces for Fortunes, new edition, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 330:
        Our doctor used to call me a ravenous eater; my mamma remarked I was blessed with an excellent appetite; cook said I was ‘a rare good one for vittals;’ and James, my own brother, whom I loved almost as much as stewed beef, invariably called me a ‘guttles.’ This unkind nickname pained me. It was vulgar, and more un-Christianly because it was so cuttingly true.]
  2. (obsolete, rare) Something which is eaten voraciously.
    • 1784–1789, Aulus Persius Flaccus, “Satire V”, in M[artin] Madan, transl., A New and Literal Translation of the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus, Dublin: […] John Exshaw, […], published 1795, →OCLC, page 141, lines 111–112:
      And can you paſs by money fixed in mud, / Nor ſvvallovv vvith your guttle mercurial ſpittle?
Translations
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Etymology 2

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Borrowed from Scots guttle,[4] from gut (“to eviscerate”)[5] + -le (frequentative suffix).[6]

Verb

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guttle (third-person singular simple present guttles, present participle guttling, simple past and past participle guttled)

  1. (transitive, Scotland) To remove the guts or entrails from (a person or an animal); to disembowel, to eviscerate, to gut.
Translations
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Etymology 3

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Origin unknown; possibly imitative of water bubbling or gurgling.

Verb

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guttle (third-person singular simple present guttles, present participle guttling, simple past and past participle guttled)

  1. (intransitive, Northern England) To make a bubbling sound; to gurgle.
Translations
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Notes

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  1. ^ From the collection of the National Gallery of Slovenia in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

References

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  1. ^ “guttle, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2021.
  2. ^ “guttle, v.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present, reproduced from Stuart Berg Flexner, editor in chief, Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Random House, 1993, →ISBN.
  3. ^ “† guttle, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2021.
  4. ^ “guttle, v.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.
  5. ^ Compare “gut, n.1, v.1”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.
  6. ^ “-le, suff.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.

Further reading

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