<2018 “Start with roasted carrots: a classic, holiday-worthy side dish. Add Simply Organic’s dried rosemary and a few glugs of maple syrup and it’s a seconds-worthy side dish.”—wholefoodsmarket.com, 5 November>
Imagine going through life having eluded crossing paths with the unit the glug. However, it must not be too obscure if Whole Foods used it in an ad for a holiday recipe sent out in millions of emails.
In trying to think of a synonym for ‘glug’ using its context, I had trouble coming up with one. ‘Drops’ seems too small. ‘Spoonfulls’ (teaspoon or tablespoon, is a possibility, but which is it?). ‘Thimbleful’ is also a possibility. But enough of guessing, here is the real deal.
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glug
noun (informal):
1) An amount of liquid poured from a bottle. <A couple of good glugs of gin.> <I poured in a large glug of sherry and cooked further until the alcohol had evaporated. [[evidently, glugs come in different sizes]]
2) The hollow gurgling sound or sounds as of liquid being poured from a bottle with intermittent partial air blockage. Often reduplicated (glub, glub or glub-glub);
3) An inarticulate strangled sound (as of someone attempting to speak while under water. <He sinks at once, making a sound like glug-glug as he goes down.>
Origin: Noun first recorded in 1890–95, imitative. [[However, the OED lists quotes dating back to 1768!]]
verb (informal)
transitive: Pour or drink (liquid) with a hollow gurgling sound. <Jeff glugged whisky into glasses.>
intransitive: To make a glug — often reduplicated.<Glasses clinked … and the wine bottles glugged.>
Origin: Late 17th century: imitative [[However, the OED earliest intransitive quote is from 1895 and the transitive verb isn’t even listed]]
(Dictionary.com, Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, and OxfordDictionaries.com)
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The following quotes were found in archived sources:
Note: The vast majority of the thousands of hits I got for ‘glug’ were from United Kingdom publications, which leads me to believe that it might be more popular there than in the US.<1993 “Salt pork was typically the only meat of the plantation slaves in the poor South, where the universal diet was hog and hominy and, for special treats, a ‘glug’ of molasses - a measurement taken from the sound of the molasses being poured.”—American Visions, 1 April>
<1998 “Next, you only glug down their special homemade quince or stinging nettle liquors if you want to be ill all night.”—The Mail on Sunday (London, England), 6 September>
<2003 “He first experienced grilled cheese in Italy several years ago, his curiosity piqued by a grilled smoked mozzarella served with a glug of olive oil and a smattering of salt and pepper.”—The Washington Post (D.C.), 17 September>
<2008 “Above all, Britons are drinking more. Alcohol consumption per person is nearly 70% higher than it was in 1970, mainly because women now glug almost as much as men.”—The Economist (US), 2 August>
<2014 “A clink of bottle against glass and a glorious glug-glug of liquid into glass.”—Western Mail (Cardiff, Wales), 19 July>
<2018 “A good glug of red wine might inspire some frightful tales...”— Scotland on Sunday (Edinburgh), 28 October>
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Ken Greenwald — November 6, 2018
