Word: gorge Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English gorge (“esophagus, gullet; throat; bird's crop; food in a hawk's crop; food or drink that has been eaten”), a borrowing from Old French gorge (“throat”) (modern French gorge (“throat; breast”)), from Vulgar Latin *gorga, *gurga, from Latin gurges (“eddy, whirlpool; gulf; sea”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerh₃- (“to devour, swallow; to eat”). The English word is cognate with Galician gorxa (“throat”), Italian gorga, gorgia (“gorge, ravine; (obsolete) throat”), Occitan gorga, gorja, Portuguese gorja (“gullet, throat; gorge”), Spanish gorja (“gullet, throat; gorge”). Doublet of gour and gurges. Pronunciation: /ɡɔːdʒ/, /ɡɔɹd͡ʒ/ 1. The front aspect of the neck; the outside of the throat. Labels: archaic Example: His gall did grate for griefe and high diſdaine, And knitting all his force got one hand free, Wherewith he grypt her gorge with ſo great paine, That ſoone to looſe her wicked bands did her co[n]ſtraine. 2. The inside of the throat; the esophagus, the gullet; (falconry, specifically) the crop or gizzard of a hawk. Labels: archaic, literary Example: I wil tel you, Scholer, that unleſs the hook be faſt in his [the trout's] very Gorge, he wil live, and a little time with the help of the water, wil ruſt the hook, & it wil in time wear away as the gravel does in the horſe hoof, which only leaves a falſe quarter. Example: Gleam, a term uſed after a hawk hath caſt and gleameth, or throweth up filth from her gorge. 3. The throat of a flower. 4. Food that has been taken into the gullet or the stomach, particularly if it is regurgitated or vomited out. Example: My gorge rises at the sight of it. Example: And like a Crane his [Gluttony's] necke was long and fyne, With which he ſwallow'd vp exceſſive feaſt, For want whereof poore people oft did pyne, And all the way, moſt like a brutiſh beaſt, He ſpued vp his gorge, that all did him deteaſt. 5. A choking or filling of a channel or passage by an obstruction; the obstruction itself. Labels: US Example: an ice gorge in a river Example: An ice gorge had formed in the bed of the river at the head of the island and from bank to bank logs, driftwood, broken ice and giant floes were packed and jammed so tightly as to resist the action of the mighty current. 6. A concave moulding; a cavetto. Example: GORGE, Gula, in architecture, the narroweſt part of Tuſcan and Doric capitals, lying between the aſtragal, above the ſhaft of the pillar and the annulets. […] It is alſo uſed for a concave moulding, larger, but not ſo deep as a ſcotia, which ſerves for compartments, &c. 7. The rearward side of an outwork, a bastion, or a fort, often open, or not protected against artillery; a narrow entry passage into the outwork of an enclosed fortification. Example: Half Moon. An Outwork conſiſting of two Faces, which makes an Angle Salient, the Gorge whereof bends in like a Bow, or Creſcent, and were formerly us'd to cover the Point of a Baſtion, which diſtinguiſhes them from Ravelins, always plac'd before the Curtin; […] Example: Ramps lead from the gorges of the bastions down to these outlets into the main ditch. […] To keep open the communication between the bastions, a gallery between their gorges is made along the curtain wall. 8. A primitive device used instead of a hook to catch fish, consisting of an object that is easy to swallow but difficult to eject or loosen, such as a piece of bone or stone pointed at each end and attached in the middle to a line. Example: Hooks of willow wood or bone (often from wishbone) and copper gorges (thin bipointed rods with a fishline attachment in the middle) could be baited with fish scrap or meat. Example: Examining this piece of worked stone, which once belonged to a prehistoric man living in that valley, we find it fairly well polished, though the action of countless years has slightly "weathered" or disintegrated its once smooth surface. In the center, a groove has been cut, and the ends of the stone rise slightly from the middle. It is rather crescent-shaped. It must have been tied to a line, and this stone gorge was covered with a bait; the fish swallowed it, and, the gorge coming crosswise with the gullet, the fish was captured. […] In the Swiss lakes are found the remains of the Lacustrine dwellers. Among the many implements discovered are fish-gorges made of bronze wire. When these forms are studied, the fact must be recognized at once that they follow, in shape and principle of construction, the stone gorges of the Neolithic period. 9. A deep, narrow passage with steep, rocky sides, particularly one with a stream running through it; a ravine. Example: It is moreover certain that for eight or nine months of the year, the great rivers rush from their gorges into the mountains as torrents of clear water, or only, in the hot months, discoloured by fine glacial mud; […] Example: As far as the eye can reach is a sea of green tree tops, with occasionally a deep rift where there is a chasm. Here and there are silver threads where the rivers wind in deep gorges through the forests. 10. The groove of a pulley. Example: But as the rope muſt lead the pulley, or the pulley the rope, when there is room to apprehend that the rope may not ſlide upon the pulley, the gorge is hollowed in the form of an angle, or ſtuck with points,[…]. Example: A cord, in passing round a pulley, lies in a groove, sometimes called the gorge of the pulley; if the object of the pulley is merely to support, guide, or strain the cord, the gorge may be considerably wider than the cord; if the pulley is to drive or to be driven by the cord, so as to transmit motive power, the gorge must in general fit the cord closely, or even be of a triangular shape, so as to hold it tight. 11. A whirlpool used as a heraldic charge. Labels: plural-normally Example: The heraldic name for whirlpools is gorges, and a mediaeval family called Gorges bore a whirlpool as its arms.