GURGLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does gurgle mean? 

• GURGLE (noun)
  The noun GURGLE has 1 sense:

1. the bubbling sound of water flowing from a bottle with a narrow neck

  Familiarity information: GURGLE used as a noun is very rare.

• GURGLE (verb)
  The verb GURGLE has 4 senses:

1. flow in an irregular current with a bubbling noise

2. make sounds similar to gurgling water

3. drink from a flask with a gurgling sound

4. utter with a gurgling sound

  Familiarity information: GURGLE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GURGLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The bubbling sound of water flowing from a bottle with a narrow neck

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("gurgle" is a kind of...):

sound (the sudden occurrence of an audible event)

Derivation:

gurgle (make sounds similar to gurgling water)

gurgle (flow in an irregular current with a bubbling noise)

• GURGLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they gurgle    ... he / she / it gurgles   
Past simple: gurgled   
Past participle: gurgled   
-ing form: gurgling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Flow in an irregular current with a bubbling noise

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

babble; bubble; burble; guggle; gurgle; ripple

Context example:

babbling brooks

Hypernyms (to "gurgle" is one way to...):

go; sound (make a certain noise or sound)

Verb group:

gurgle (make sounds similar to gurgling water)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

gurgle (the bubbling sound of water flowing from a bottle with a narrow neck)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make sounds similar to gurgling water

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

The baby gurgled with satisfaction when the mother tickled it

Hypernyms (to "gurgle" is one way to...):

go; sound (make a certain noise or sound)

Verb group:

babble; bubble; burble; guggle; gurgle; ripple (flow in an irregular current with a bubbling noise)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

gurgle (the bubbling sound of water flowing from a bottle with a narrow neck)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Drink from a flask with a gurgling sound

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

guggle; gurgle

Hypernyms (to "gurgle" is one way to...):

drink; imbibe (take in liquids)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Utter with a gurgling sound

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

'Help,' the stabbing victim gurgled

Hypernyms (to "gurgle" is one way to...):

emit; let loose; let out; utter (express audibly; utter sounds (not necessarily words))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

The tiny stream slipping down the mossy-lipped stone seemed suddenly to increase the volume of its gurgling noise. Save for the meadow-larks, there was no other sound.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Sometimes this gurgle became sibilant, almost a whistle.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

A gurgling sound that comes from the back of the throat of a dying person.

(Death rattle, NCI Dictionary)

The lapping of water. It is gurgling by, and little waves leap. I can hear them on the outside.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It made little audible gurgles which distracted me.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It ended suddenly on its highest note with a choke and a gurgle.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Vell, the Eytalian ’e got a touch of the gurgles, an’ ’e shut ’imself right up like a two-foot rule.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was a cheery companion, gurgling and chuckling as it ran, like the dear old trout-stream in the West Country where I have fished at night in my boyhood.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At one time the moon, which had before been clear, was suddenly overspread by a thick cloud, and I took advantage of the moment of darkness and cast my basket into the sea; I listened to the gurgling sound as it sank and then sailed away from the spot.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Something gurgled and moaned.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)