gulp

Noun

gulp (plural gulps)

1. The usual amount swallowed.
   • What the liquor was I do not know, but it was not so strong but that I could swallow it in great gulps and found it less burning than my burning throat.[1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   slug

2. The sound of swallowing, sometimes indicating fear.
   • Little Stanislovas was also trembling, and all but too frightened to speak. "They — they sent me to tell you — " he said, with a gulp.1905 April–October, Upton Sinclair, chapter XVII, in The Jungle, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 26 February 1906, →OCLC
   • Indeed, the envisioned future should produce a bit of "the gulp factor" […], there should be an almost audible "gulp".1994, James Charles Collins, Jerry I. Porras, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
3. (rare) An unspecified small number of bytes, often two.

Verb

gulp (third-person singular simple present gulps, present participle gulping, simple past and past participle gulped)

1. To swallow eagerly, or in large draughts; to swallow up; to take down in one swallow.
   • He does not swallow, but he gulps it down.1782, William Cowper, Table-Talk

   Synonyms:

   swig, drink, hydrate, imbibe, wet one's whistle, wet one's beak

2. To react nervously by swallowing.
   • The man eyed Percy with a chilly eye. "Well," he said, "What's troublin you?" Percy gulped. The man's mere appearance was a sedative. "Er-nothing! […]"1930, P. G. Wodehouse, A Damsel in Distress, published 2004, page 198
   • I'd always been nervous-excited; this was nervous-terrified. When I finished puking, I sat down gulping air for a while, trying to pull myself together.2003, Carl Deuker, High Heat, page 140

Interjection

1. An indication of (the sound of) an involuntary fear reaction in the form of a swallowing motion.
   • "Honey, I know you want to go to their home next week, but there's one thing that keeps happening when we're together that really drives me away from social gatherings in general. (Oh, what is it … gulp.) Well, I'm not sure I can really explain it without offending you. (Gulp, gulp.) Do you really...1982, Gary Smalley, If Only He Knew, page 163
   • I wonder: if it had not been for GCN, would I now be the one who settles for the semi-closeted, factionalized world that Bay Windows and its ilk define as Shangri-la? Perhaps. What is certain, however, is that you have never jettisoned concern fror anybody for the sake of popularity and (gulp)...1990 December 9, Ed Fendor, “The Promised Land”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 21, page 4

   Synonyms:

   ulp