Other forms: gobbled, gobbling, gobbles
To gobble is to eat fast and greedily. Gobble it down, gobbling his food, do not gobble.
It is what children are told not to do and what everybody does when hungry. Gobble up means to consume entirely, and it is used of resources and companies as well as food: gobbled up by a competitor. A turkey also gobbles, which is the sound it makes, and that is where the word comes from. Note gobbledegook, meaning meaningless official language, which was coined from the turkey noise.
1verbgobbleTo eat fast and greedily.
“The hungry children gobbled their sandwiches and ran back outside.”
2verbconsumeTo consume entirely.
“Small shops are being gobbled up by the big supermarket chains.”
gobble is a greedy consuming.
Middle English gobben meant to swallow greedily, and the turkey's call was named from the same sound. Gobbledegook was invented in 1944 by a Texan congressman who said pompous prose reminded him of turkeys.
Middle English
gobben — to drink or swallow greedily
English, today
gobble
From Middle English gobben (“to drink or swallow greedily”), of unknown origin le. gobben is perhaps an alteration of Middle English globben (“to gulp down”), related to English gulpen (“to gulp”). However, compare also French gober.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire