• (RP) enPR: gôj, IPA: /ɡɔːdʒ/
• (America) enPR: gôrj, IPA: /ɡɔɹd͡ʒ/

From Middle English gorge, a borrowing from Old French gorge (modern French gorge), from Vulgar Latin *gorga, *gurga, from Latin gurges, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerh₃-.

gorge (plural gorges)

1. (archaic) The front aspect of the neck; the outside of the throat.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗, stanza 19, page 9 ↗:

     His gall did grate for griefe and high diſdaine, / And knitting all his force got one hand free, / Wherewith he grypt her gorge with ſo great paine, / That ſoone to looſe her wicked bands did her co[n]ſtraine.

2. (archaic, literary) The inside of the throat; the esophagus, the gullet; (falconry, specifically) the crop or gizzard of a hawk.
   • 1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter IV, in The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man's Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London: […] T. Maxey for Rich[ard] Marriot, […], →OCLC ↗; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969, →ISBN, page 124 ↗:

     I wil tel you, Scholer, that unleſs the hook be faſt in his [the trout's] very Gorge, he wil live, and a little time with the help of the water, wil ruſt the hook, & it wil in time wear away as the gravel does in the horſe hoof, which only leaves a falſe quarter.

3. Food that has been taken into the gullet or the stomach, particularly if it is regurgitated or vomited out.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗, stanza 21, page 51 ↗:

     And like a Crane his [Gluttony's] necke was long and fyne, / With which he ſwallow'd vp exceſſive feaſt, / For want whereof poore people oft did pyne, / And all the way, moſt like a brutiſh beaſt, / He ſpued vp his gorge, that all did him deteaſt.

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene i]:

     Alas poore Yoricke, I knew him Horatio, a fellow of infinite ieſt, of moſt excellent fancie, hee hath bore me on his backe a thouſand times, and now how how abhorred in my imagination it is: my gorge riſes at it.

4. (US) A choking or filling of a channel or passage by an obstruction; the obstruction itself.

   an ice gorge in a river

   • 1903, Zane Grey, chapter VII, in Betty Zane, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, →OCLC ↗, page 133 ↗:

     An ice gorge had formed in the bed of the river at the head of the island and from bank to bank logs, driftwood, broken ice and giant floes were packed and jammed so tightly as to resist the action of the mighty current.

5. (architectural element) A concave moulding; a cavetto.
6. (architectural element, military, fortification) The rearward side of an outwork, a bastion, or a fort, often open, or not protected against artillery; a narrow entry passage into the outwork of an enclosed fortification.
7. (fishing) A primitive device used instead of a hook to catch fish, consisting of an object that is easy to swallow but difficult to eject or loosen, such as a piece of bone or stone pointed at each end and attached in the middle to a line.
8. (geography) A deep, narrow passage with steep, rocky sides, particularly one with a stream running through it; a ravine.

   Synonyms: canyon

9. (mechanical engineering) The groove of a pulley.

• gorget
• gorgeted

• German: Gurgel, Kehle

• German: Speiseröhre
• Portuguese: garganta, gorja
• Russian: пищево́д
• Spanish: garganta

• German: Schlucht
• Italian: gola
• Portuguese: garganta
• Russian: уще́лье
• Spanish: garganta, desfiladero

The verb is derived from Middle English gorgen, a borrowing from Old French gorger, gorgier (modern French gorger), from gorge ("throat"); see further at etymology 1.

The noun is derived from the verb.

gorge (gorges, present participle gorging; simple past and past participle gorged)

1. (intransitive, reflexive) To stuff the gorge or gullet with food; to eat greedily and in large quantities. [with on]

   They gorged themselves on chocolate and cake.

   • 1824 June, [Walter Scott], “Narrative of Darsie Latimer, Continued”, in Redgauntlet, […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC ↗, page 200 ↗:

     "Friend," he said, after watching him for some minutes, "if thou gorgest thyself in this fashion, thou wilt assuredly choak. Wilt thou not take a draught out of my cup to help down all that dry meat?"

2. (transitive) To swallow, especially with greediness, or in large mouthfuls or quantities.
3. (transitive) To fill up to the throat; to glut, to satiate.

   Synonyms: sate, stuff

   • a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “[Translations from Boccace.] Sigismonda and Guiscardo.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume III, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC ↗, page 270 ↗:

     If in thy doting and decrepit age, / Thy ſoul, a ſtranger in thy youth to rage, / Begins in cruel deeds to take delight, / Gorge with my blood thy barb'rous appetite; […]

4. (transitive) To fill up (an organ, a vein, etc.); to block up or obstruct; (US, specifically) of ice: to choke or fill a channel or passage, causing an obstruction.

   Synonyms: engorge

• French: gorger, se gorger
• German: sich vollfressen, sich vollstopfen
• Portuguese: empanturrar-se de, devorar
• Russian: жрать
• Spanish: atiborrarse de, hartarse de, devorar, vorar

gorge (plural gorges)

1. An act of gorging.

gorge

1. (slang) Gorgeous.

   Oh, look at him: isn’t he gorge?

1. A male given name