glutton

English

Etymology

From Middle English glotoun, from Old French gloton, gluton, from Latin gluttō, gluttōnis (“glutton”).

The use for the wolverine is a semantic loan from German Vielfraß, itself a folk etymology for Old Norse *fjallfress (literally “mountain cat”). The popular belief that the wolverine is particularly voracious only developed because of this name. See the German for more.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡlʌt(ə)n/

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• Hyphenation: glut‧ton
• Rhymes: -ʌtən

Adjective

glutton (comparative more glutton, superlative most glutton)

1. Gluttonous; greedy; gormandizing.
   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; , London: Iohn Williams , →OCLC:

     A glutton monastery in former ages makes a hungry ministry in our days.

   • 1597, William Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV i 3:

     So, so, thou common dog, didst thou disgorge
     Thy glutton bosom of the royal Richard?

Noun

glutton (plural gluttons)

1. One who eats voraciously, obsessively, or to excess; a gormandizer.

   Such a glutton would eat until his belly hurts.

2. (by extension) One who consumes anything voraciously, obsessively, or to excess.
   • 1705, George Granville, The British Enchanters:

     "Gluttons in murder, wanton to destroy."

   • 1878, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native:

     "A good few indeed, my man," replied the captain. "Yes, you may make away with a deal of money and be neither drunkard nor glutton."

   • a. 1887 (date written), Emily Dickinson, “Hope is a subtle glutton”, in M[abel] L[oomis] Todd, editors, Poems, Third Series, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1896, page 15:

     Hope is a subtle glutton; / He feeds upon the fair;

3. (now rare) The wolverine, Gulo gulo.
   • 1791, Joseph Priestley, Letters to Burke, section VII:

     [A] civil establishment […] is the animal called a glutton, which falling from a tree (in which it generally conceals itself) upon some noble animal, immediately begins to tear it, and suck its blood […] .

4. (colloquial) A giant petrel.

Synonyms

• (voracious eater): see Thesaurus:glutton

Translations

See also

• glutton for punishment

Verb

glutton (third-person singular simple present gluttons, present participle gluttoning, simple past and past participle gluttoned)

1. (archaic) To glut; to satisfy (especially an appetite) by filling to capacity.
   • a. 1657, Richard Lovelace, On Sanazar's Hundred Duckets by hte Clarissimi of Venice:

     Glutton'd at last, return at home to pine.

   • 1915, Journeyman Barber, Hairdresser, Cosmetologist and Proprietor:

     In some cities their [local branches] have become gluttoned with success, and in their misguided overzealous ambition they are 'killing the goose that lays the golden egg.'

2. (obsolete) To glut; to eat voraciously.
   • 1604, Michael Drayton, Moses in a Map of his Miracles:

     Whereon in Egypt gluttoning they fed.

   • 1598, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 75:

     Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day, / Or gluttoning on all, or all away.

Related terms

References