• \GOR-mun-dyze\ • verb
: to eat greedily, gluttonously, or ravenously
Examples:
"People stuff themselves, they gorge, they gormandize; their fingers are greasy from morning to night." —Philippe Sagant, The Dozing Shaman, 1996
"While my ability to gormandize has slackened over the years, my enthusiasm for cooking big has only grown." — Henry Miller, The Statesman Journal (Salem, Oregon), 19 Dec. 2013
Did you know?
Gormandize entered English in the mid-1500s as a modification of gourmand, a term borrowed from the French that served as a synonym of glutton. The meaning of gourmand softened over time, developing in the mid-18th century a sense referring to one who is "heartily interested in good food and drink." It wasn't until the early 19th century that the wholly positive gourmet became established. Whether that now-common word encouraged the adoption of or was influenced by the softer meaning of gourmand is unknown. Gormandize, too, has softened over time, but only slightly: it can now also imply that a big eater has a discriminating palate as well as a generous appetite.
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