gobful

Noun

gobful (plural gobfuls or gobsful)

1. (Ireland, UK, slang) A mouthful.
   • The Professor, in order fittingly to celebrate this golden moment, leaned back in his chair, lit the worst cigar ever sold west of the Mississippi River, and blew five large gobfuls of smoke into the face of Mr. Gilhoolie, directly above him.1926, Robert H. Davis, Irvin S. Cobb, Over My Left Shoulder, page 20
   • One after another, gobfuls of mash are gobbled up.1989, Robert McLiam Wilson, Ripley Bogle, published 1998, page 121
2. (UK, broadly, slang) A large portion or amount.
   • “[…]But when you speak of love, I am no longer old. I am absolutely full of it. I have crammed great gobsful of it into my music.”1921, Charles David Isaacson, Face to Face with Great Musicians, volume 2, page 197
   • Three of them were full already – the diggers had scooped up great gobfuls of concrete and soil.2005, L.J. Adlington, The Diary of Pelly-D, unnumbered page
3. (Australia, UK, slang) A blast of verbal abuse, usually considered justifiable.
   • The neighbours were having a noisy party so I went and gave them a gobful.
   • But his erstwhile colleague Jason Gillespie believes that the Sri Lankan probably expects it: ‘With Murali coming out he always cops a gobful in Australia and he′ll be expecting to cop that again. He might have to grin and bear it. […] ’2007, Gideon Haigh, article in The Guardian, reprinted 2008, The Warne-Muralitharan Trophy: Marrige of Inconvenience, Inside Out: Writings on Cricket Culture, page 54