glug

1 of 2

noun

ˈgləg 

plural glugs

1

or glug-glug

ˈgləg-ˈgləg 

plural glug-glugs : a gurgling sound (as of a liquid pouring from a bottle)

Russian sleeper trains are filled with the sounds of laughter, the glug of vodka being poured and playing cards slapping makeshift tables.

—Hannah Jane Parkinson

The only sounds were by Handel and the glug-glug of the pool filter.

—Don Van Natta, Jr.

2

a

: a small amount of liquid especially when poured from a bottle

a glug of olive oil

She turned the taps to start the water running, poured in a generous glug of vanilla bubble bath …

—Cindi Myers

b

: a large sip

took a glug of water before returning to the ring

glug

2 of 2

verb

variants or less commonly glug-glug or glug-glug-glug

ˈgləg-ˈgləg-ˈgləg 

glugging also glug-glugging or glug-glug-glugging; glugged also glug-glugged or glug-glug-glugged; glugs also glug-glugs or glug-glug-glugs

transitive + intransitive

1

: to flow or pour with a gurgling sound

… the Delaware river glugged below us.

—John Washington

Liquid began glugging out onto the refrigerator shelf.

—Reed Johnson

… bottles obligingly pop, and liquid glug-glugs into glasses.

—Adam Tschorn

… like pouring soda out of a two-liter bottle. And while it glug-glug-glugs out, if you were to punch a hole in the bottom of the bottle with an ice pick, you'd allow more air in, and the soda would pour out more quickly.

—Tom Magliozzi, quoted in The Wichita (Kansas) Eagle

Alessandro parks the martini trolley by us, pours Sacred Extra Dry Vermouth into iced glasses and swirls it to line the glass, before glug-glug-glugging out the gin.

—Damian Barr

2

: to drink quickly

glugged some water

glugging beer/wine/champagne

Unless you suck alcohol through a straw more rapidly than you glug, drinking through a straw does not raise your blood alcohol level faster than other ways of drinking.

—Roger Highfield

"… When the police arrived, they all had two-litre bottles of water, and they just glug-glug-glugged so that they would dilute whatever they had in their system … ."

—Kristina Rutherford

Examples of glug in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

As the beets cook, their earthy juices will release into the pan and mingle with the generous glug of oil used to coat the beets. —Wire Report, Mercury News, 16 Apr. 2025

Add a couple of glugs of apple cider vinegar (optional). —Cody Godwin, USA TODAY, 6 Mar. 2025

Verb

The rest of us apparently just glug it down. —Washington Post, 21 Jan. 2022

Word History

Etymology

Noun

imitative

Verb

derivative of glug entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

1707, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1895, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing glug

• glug-glug-glug