Context #1:
Kirk: We gotta leave soon if we’re going
to make the play.
Jake: I just made dinner.
Kirk: Then let’s gobble it up; we have to leave in 10 minutes.
Jake: Ugh. I shouldn’t have bothered
making anything nice.
Kirk: Sorry, but I told you we had these
tickets for tonight.
Jake: I know.
Meaning: The word “gobble” is an English onomatopoeia
that is used to describe the sound a turkey makes (Onomatopoeias are words like
“bark” and “bang” that imitate sounds). But the expression
“gobble up” means to eat very quickly, usually because the person is
in a hurry or very hungry. In the above
example, Kirk says they need to “gobble up” their dinner because they
need to leave for a play. Paradoxically, “Gobble” can be used with
the prepositions “up” or “down” and have the exact same
meaning, as in this next example:
Context #2:
Jean: This birthday party is a disaster!
Will: Why? The kids seem to be having
fun.
Jean: I just put out the pizza, and they
gobbled it all down in 5 minutes. They want more, but that’s everything I
ordered.
Will: Can’t you order more?
Jean: It’ll take at least half an hour
to get here.
Will: Well, let’s serve the cake then.
Maybe they’ll fill up on that.
https://languagesystems.edu/
