Word of the Day

: May 12, 2015

ingurgitate

verb in-GUR-juh-tayt

What It Means

: to swallow greedily or in large quantities : guzzle

ingurgitate in Context

"Because we always listen to 'the experts,' we make sure to ingurgitate some protein after an extended endurance workout." - Christopher Arns, Sacramento (California) Bee August 31, 2013

"The twilight deepens, one talks … feelingly about the amorous mysteries, one produces cocktails … and goes on talking so that they ingurgitate them absent-mindedly without reflection." - Aldous Huxley, Point Counter Point, 1928

Did You Know?

Most people are familiar with regurgitate as a fancy synonym for "throw up," but far fewer know of its rarer antonym ingurgitate. It's a word more likely to turn up in a spelling bee than in a conversation, but it does see occasional use, both literal (as in "ingurgitating red wine") and figurative (as in "ingurgitating artwork"). Regurgitate and ingurgitate (as well as gurgitate, an even rarer synonym of ingurgitate, and gorge, meaning "to eat greedily") can be ultimately traced back to the Latin word for "whirlpool," which is gurges.