or gobble up, verb. (vulgar).—To swallow hastily or greedily; hence (American) to seize, capture, or appropriate. Also GOB: e.g., GOB that!
1602. DEKKER, Satiromastix, in wks. (1873) i. 233. They will come to GOBBLE downe Plummes.
1728. SWIFT, Miscellanies, Poems, in wks. (1824) xiv. 232.
| The time too precious now to waste, | |
| The supper GOBBLED up in haste. |
1751. SMOLLETT, Peregrine Pickle, ch. cvi. Summoned in such a plaguy hurry from his dinner, which he had been fain to GOBBLE up like a cannibal.
1846–48. THACKERAY, Vanity Fair, vol. 1, ch. v. Mr. Jos … helped Rebecca to everything on the table, and himself GOBBLED and drank a great deal.
1860. THACKERAY, The Adventures of Philip, ch. xiii. There was a wily old monkey who thrust the cat’s paw out, and proposed to GOBBLE up the smoking prize.
