How to use gulp in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb, interjection

Gulp means the usual amount swallowed. Example: “The dog chomped on the treat and swallowed it in one gulp.”

Examples of gulp by meaning

nounThe sound of swallowing, sometimes indicating fear.

"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...

verbTo react nervously by swallowing.

"Well," he said, "What's troublin you?" Percy gulped.1930, P. G. Wodehouse, A Damsel in Distress, published 2004, page 198
When I finished puking, I sat down gulping air for a while, trying to pull myself together.2003, Carl Deuker, High Heat, page 140
My heart was beating madly and I was gulping nervous energy.2006, Nancy Anne Nicholson, Thin White Female in No Acute Distress: A Memoir, page 187

interjectionAn indication of (the sound of) an involuntary fear reaction in the form of a swallowing motion.

What is certain, however, is that you have never jettisoned concern fror anybody for the sake of popularity and (gulp) assimilationist marketability.1990 December 9, Ed Fendor, “The Promised Land”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 21, page 4

More sentences with gulp

The dog chomped on the treat and swallowed it in one gulp.From the entry chomp
I gulped down a mouthful of fluffy, yummy, flapjacky goodness, then answered her.2018, Marley Dias, “Herstory: Who I Am, How This All Began”, in Marley Dias Gets It Done: And So Can You!, New York, N.Y.: Scholastic…. From the entry flapjacky
The fire gulped up the kitchen cabinets and gobbled up the dazzling living room furniture.2015, Stephanie A. Pointing, From Ashes to Roses. From the entry gulp up
Natasha gulped and tried to look cheerful when she dropped the bomb on him.2014, Gail Sattler, The Best Man's Holiday Romance, →ISBN. From the entry drop the bomb
"He's in a wheelchair." Cobb took a large gulp from the bottle, showed his teeth.2013, Ray Banks, Wolf Tickets, Blasted Heath Ltd, →ISBN, page 49. From the entry gadgie
Or, gulping a big breath, That ficus tree had origami cranes hanging on it that awful Christmas.2012, Maria Semple, Where'd You Go, Bernadette, Thorndike Press, page 65. From the entry Vietnam flashback
Veronika takes a gulp of her wine while still chewing on her cough lolly.2007, Liane Moriarty, The Last Anniversary, page 208. From the entry cough lolly
When a ball finally drains, it's gulped down by a giant gator beneath the set of flippers.1990, Steven A. Schwartz, Compute's Nintendo Secrets. From the entry drain
He executed a series of gulps and headflips, veritably flinging the meat down his throat.1945, Jean Devanny, Bird of Paradise, page 110. From the entry headflip
Besides, here 's a chance to take in three centuryfuls of history at a gulp, already canned.1924, Thomas Morris Longstreth, The Lake Superior Country, page 167. From the entry centuryful
The man drank it at a gulp and asked for a caraway seed.1904–1907 (date written), James Joyce, “Counterparts”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, published June 1914, →OCLC, page 107. From the entry porter
The boy quit wibbling, stood stock-still, and gulped.2019 June, Suzanne Nelson, A Tale Magnolious, New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, page 36. From the entry stock-still
As Dad "hoovered" away, slurping, chewing, gulping, and snorting, Rudy said, "Mom, you would not believe the hole; it's beautiful.2016, Al Bolea, Leanne Atwater, Applied Leadership Development: Nine Elements of Leadership Mastery (Leadership: Research and Practice…. From the entry hoover
He pours the merest smidgen of water into the whiskey and takes a gigantic gulp that shakes him to his foundations.2015, Paul Drury, Flann O'Brien would find much to mock in this deluded effort to tackle our drinking. From the entry ball of malt
Joseph gulped and drew his sword with a loud ching.2008, Greg Weston, Ocean View Terrace and the Blue Pirate Eater, Lulu, published 2008, →ISBN, page 196. From the entry ching
The apple in his neck bobbles as he gulps.2003, Sandra Benítez, Night of the Radishes, New York, N.Y.: Hyperion, →ISBN, page 223. From the entry apple
My chum, my pal, my bezzy mate, he'd eat you in one gulp, if you were rude to me.2003, Arabella McIntyre-Brown, The Dragon that Squeaked. From the entry bezzy
She gulped down a crawful of food and stalked off, trying to devise a way to outwit her pursuers.1973, Charlotte Stevenson, The Stevenson reference book, page 147. From the entry crawful
She gulped like a bulldog trying to swallow a sirloin steak many sizes too large for its thoracic cavity.1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC. From the entry to a nicety
I am so constituted that I absolutely must gulp down the juice of three oranges before confronting the rigors of day.1957 March 7, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 7.7, in Pnin, Heinemann, page 190. From the entry gulp down
She made several gulps and controlled her breath.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 188. From the entry vapor
A bite, a gulp and a whole one was gone.1935 March 24, “Scientists Go To Work”, in The Honolulu Advertiser, 79th year, number 17,299, Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, page eight…. From the entry wolve down
Boldly she drained her glass, too, in one gulp.1930, J[ohn] B[oynton] Priestley, “Miss Matfield Wonders”, in Angel Pavement, London: William Heinemann Ltd, →OCLC, section 4, page 260. From the entry aniseedy
Fascinated, Miss Manvers thrust aside a garnished plate, took a gulp of the decoction called coffee, and attacked her napoleon.1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew]…. From the entry napoleon
Challenger breathed two or three times with enormous gulps, his lungs roaring as he drew in the vital gas.1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC. From the entry vital
Gael gulps down the toothaching juice.2018, Caoilinn Hughes, Orchid & the Wasp. From the entry toothaching
'Tell your old mother everything.' I took a gulp of the spirit, then babbled all, showing her the loot now in my possession.2017, Jake Arnott, The Fatal Tree. From the entry lightning
His chin held high, he tipped the glass to his mouth and swallowed its contents with ostrichy gulps of his skinny, stubble-stippled throat.2017, John Freeman Gill, The Gargoyle Hunters, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, page 25. From the entry ostrichy
He took a great gulp of wine from an oxen horn goblet and with a sigh slammed it down on the conference table.2015, Amulon Theophilus, Elomaneck: Duraban Rebels. From the entry oxen
Checking out the studen, its calves feet and pork snouts floating languidly in purple gelatin, I gulped and said, “I think I’ll pass.2010, Glen Berkowitz, chapter 7, in Mayhem at the Hampton Classic: A Gabriel Fortuna Hamptons Adventure, Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, →ISBN. From the entry studen
He began buying hot food—stardogs, pirozhki, cheese-filled bread, boubliki and shaurma from the kiosks, which he and the dogs gulped down in ecstasy.2009, Eva Hornung, Dog Boy, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Viking, published 2010, →ISBN, page 143. From the entry boublik
He left a bad taste in my mind, let me have another good gulp of this liquid sunshine here with my bird's wing.1990, Thomas Mann, Lotte in Weimar: The Beloved Returns, →ISBN, page 351. From the entry liquid sunshine
A word of warning: Sugar's expert terrain is like a shot of Southern Comfort — it's gulped quickly and burns on the way down.1989 02, “Skiing”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 99. From the entry Southern Comfort
But Pope Brock plays him in such a one-note key of gulping and spitting and snickering cynicism that the spectacle becomes numbing.1971 March 13, Michael Sragow, “Theatre: Look Back in Anger Tonight at the Loeb Ex”, in Harvard Crimson, retrieved 25 Jul 2009. From the entry one-note
His first drink went over in a gulp and Jol had the second ready for him when he set down the empty glass.1950, Wonders of the Spaceways, numbers 1-6, page 30. From the entry crook one's elbow

Meaning of gulp

noun The usual amount swallowed.
noun The sound of swallowing, sometimes indicating fear.
noun An unspecified small number of bytes, often two.

Full definition of gulp

Questions about gulp in a sentence

How do you use gulp in a sentence?: Gulp is used as a noun, verb and interjection. For example: “The dog chomped on the treat and swallowed it in one gulp.”
What is a short sentence with gulp?: “Gael gulps down the toothaching juice.”
What does gulp mean?: Gulp means the usual amount swallowed.

Adapted from Wiktionary: gulp (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use gulp in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/gulp. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.