glutton

From Old French gloton, gluton, from Latin gluto, glutonis. Application of the term to the wolverine was due to the belief that the animal was inordinately voracious, and to the German designation of it as the Vielfraß, which was analyzed as viel (“much”) + fressen (“eat”)[1] although it actually derives from Old Norse.[2]

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡlʌt.n̩/

glutton (comparative more glutton, superlative most glutton)

1. Gluttonous; greedy; gormandizing.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Fuller:

     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?

glutton (plural gluttons)

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

   Such a glutton would eat until his belly hurts.

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

     "Gluttons in murder, wanton to destroy."

   • c. 1860, Emily Dickinson, Hope is a subtle Glutton:

     Hope is a subtle Glutton / He feeds upon the Fair

   • 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."

3. The wolverine, Gulo gulo, of the family Mustelidae, a carnivorous mammal about the size of a large badger, native to the northern parts of America, Europe, and Asia.

• (voracious eater): see Thesaurus:glutton

• glutton for punishment

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.
   • (Can we date this quote?), Lovelace

     Gluttoned 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.
   • (Can we date this quote?), Drayton

     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.

• gluttonous
• gluttonously
• gluttony