Word of the Day

: July 2, 2021

gormandize

verb GOR-mun-dyze

What It Means

: to eat greedily, gluttonously, or ravenously : devour

gormandize in Context

Lady Baleforth watched in horror as Lord Hoggwood gormandized the hors d'oeuvres, polishing off the entire lot before any of the other guests even arrived.

"That's because—unless you live in the Sistine Chapel—there are very few other things to focus on while staring at the ceiling from the couch after gormandizing the Thanksgiving feast." — John O. Marlowe, The Paper of Montgomery County (Indiana), 30 Nov. 2017

Did You Know?

Gormandize entered English in the mid-1500s as a modification of gourmand, a term borrowed from the French that served as a synonym for glutton. The meanings of both gourmand and gormandize were clearly disparaging until the 19th century, when gourmet came into use to refer to a connoisseur of food and drink. Since then, the meaning of gourmand has softened, so that it now simply suggests someone who likes good food in large quantities. Gormandize still carries negative connotations of gluttony, but it can also imply that a big eater has a discriminating palate as well as a generous appetite.