# glutton
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English glotoun, from Old French gloton, gluton, from Latin gluttō, gluttōnis (“glutton”).
The use for the wolverine is a semantic loan from German Vielfraß, itself a folk etymology for Old Norse *fjallfress (literally “mountain cat”). The popular belief that the wolverine is particularly voracious only developed because of this name. See the German for more.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA: /ˈɡlʌt(ə)n/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Audio (US):(file)
* Hyphenation: glut‧ton
* Rhymes: -ʌtən

### Adjective

glutton (comparative more glutton, superlative most glutton)
* Gluttonous; greedy; gormandizing.
** 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):A glutton monastery in former ages makes a hungry ministry in our days.
** 1597, William Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV i 3:So, so, thou common dog, didst thou disgorge Thy glutton bosom of the royal Richard?

### Noun

glutton (plural gluttons)
* One who eats voraciously, obsessively, or to excess; a gormandizer.
    Such a glutton would eat until his belly hurts.
* (by extension) One who consumes anything voraciously, obsessively, or to excess.
** 1705, George Granville, The British Enchanters:"Gluttons in murder, wanton to destroy."
** 1878, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native:"A good few indeed, my man," replied the captain. "Yes, you may make away with a deal of money and be neither drunkard nor glutton."
** a. 1887 (date written), Emily Dickinson, “Hope is a subtle glutton”, in M[abel] L[oomis] Todd, editors, Poems, Third Series, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1896, page 15:Hope is a subtle glutton; / He feeds upon the fair;
* (now rare) The wolverine, Gulo gulo.
** 1791, Joseph Priestley, Letters to Burke, section VII:[A] civil establishment […] is the animal called a glutton, which falling from a tree (in which it generally conceals itself) upon some noble animal, immediately begins to tear it, and suck its blood […] .
* (colloquial) A giant petrel.

#### Synonyms

* (voracious eater): see Thesaurus:glutton

#### See also

* glut
* glutton for punishment
* gluttonous

### Verb

glutton (third-person singular simple present gluttons, present participle gluttoning, simple past and past participle gluttoned)
* (archaic) To glut; to satisfy (especially an appetite) by filling to capacity.
** a. 1657, Richard Lovelace, On Sanazar's Hundred Duckets by hte Clarissimi of Venice:Glutton'd at last, return at home to pine.
** 1915, Journeyman Barber, Hairdresser, Cosmetologist and Proprietor:In some cities their [local branches] have become gluttoned with success, and in their misguided overzealous ambition they are 'killing the goose that lays the golden egg.'
* (obsolete) To glut; to eat voraciously.
** 1604, Michael Drayton, Moses in a Map of his Miracles:Whereon in Egypt gluttoning they fed.
** 1598, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 75:Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day, / Or gluttoning on all, or all away.

### Related terms

* gluttoness
* gluttonise
* gluttonish
* gluttonism
* gluttonize
* gluttonous
* gluttonously
* gluttony

### References

* ↑ “glutton”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
* ↑ “glutton” in Duden online