gargle

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑ(ɹ)ɡəl/

• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)ɡəl
• Homophone: goggle (non-rhotic with father-bother merger)

From French gargouiller (“to gargle”), from Old French gargouille, gargole (“gutter, throat”). Compare gargoyle. Displaced Middle English gargargisen (“to gargle”) from Latin, and native Old English swillan (“to gargle”) (> English swill).

gargle (third-person singular simple present gargles, present participle gargling, simple past and past participle gargled)

1. (intransitive) to clean one's mouth by holding water or some other liquid in the back of the mouth and blowing air out from the lungs
   • 1915, Willa Cather, The Song of the Lark:

     She hated the poisoned feeling in her throat, and no matter how often she gargled she felt unclean and disgusting.

2. (intransitive) to make a sound like the one made while gargling
3. (transitive) to clean a specific part of the body by gargling (almost always throat or mouth)
   • 1893, Gilbert Parker, Mrs. Falchion:

     They don't gargle their throats with anything stronger than coffee at this tavern.

4. (transitive) to use (a liquid) for purposes of cleaning one's mouth or throat by gargling.

   Every morning he gargled a little cheap Scotch.

gargle (countable and uncountable, plural gargles)

1. A liquid used for gargling.
   • 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 230-231:

     But the case was pressing, and the nearest medical practitioner was sent for. On examining the throat, he expressed his desire that a physician should be called in, and accordingly a gentleman, duly authorized, made his appearance, and prescribed gargles and diluents secundem artem.

   • 1861, Young's Demonstrative Translation of Scientific Secrets:

     Take of borax 1 drm., tinc. of myrrh 1/2 oz., clarified honey 1 oz., rose or distilled water, 4 oz.; mix. To be used as a gargle or mouth wash in sore mouth or affection of the gums.

2. (countable) The sound or act of gargling.
3. (slang, countable, uncountable) Lager or other alcoholic drink.

• mouthwash

• gargle-factory

gargle (plural gargles)

1. Obsolete form of gargoyle.

• gregal, lagger, raggle