verb

gobble

GAHB-ul/ˈɡɑːbl/

To eat or use up something quickly and greedily.

The man gobbles his sandwich with his mouth already full.

An older man hastily stuffs a large bite of sandwich into his already full mouth while gripping another sandwich half ready in his other hand.

Etymology

The “mouthful” base and repeated-action ending probably contributed to this verb alongside sound imitation. The earlier gobben meant “drink greedily,” connecting greedy swallowing with the present sense of hurried eating.

In context

Gustavus Adolphus College23:19

Spiders gobble down between 400 and 800 million tons of insects each year. That's more than the weight of the entire human population.

Nobel Conference 59 - Lecture by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, PhD

More examples

We gobbled down breakfast before catching the bus.
The kids gobble up the cookies while they’re still warm.
These video files gobble up storage space on my phone.

Forms

gobble · gobbles · gobbled · gobbling

Similar words

devour: Emphasizes eating eagerly or consuming completely, not necessarily quickly.
gulp: Emphasizes swallowing quickly or in large mouthfuls, rather than greed.
exhaust: Emphasizes using a resource completely, without suggesting speed or greed.