1 B1 informal
To eat food very quickly and greedily.
"The puppy gobbled up its dinner before the bowl even hit the floor."
separable
gobble up
B1 informal separable transitive
To eat something quickly and greedily; or to consume, absorb, or use up resources rapidly.
In plain English
To eat something very fast, or to use up a lot of something quickly.
What does "gobble up" mean?
3 meanings, ordered from most common to least. Color-coded by CEFR level.
2 B2 idiomatic informal
To consume, absorb, or use up resources, money, space, or time at a rapid rate.
"Childcare costs gobbled up almost half of her monthly salary."
separable
3 B2 idiomatic informal
For a large entity to take over or absorb a smaller one (business, territory).
"The tech giant gobbled up three smaller startups in the space of a year."
separable
Literal vs figurative
Words literally mean
To gobble (eat greedily) and take up (consume entirely).
Actually means
To eat something very fast, or to use up a lot of something quickly.
Usage tip
Common in both literal (food) and figurative (resources, time, money, land) contexts. The figurative sense ('legal fees gobbled up all the savings') is frequent in journalism. Fun, vivid word that is slightly humorous in tone.
Words that pair with "gobble up"
Natural word combinations native speakers use most often.
food resources budget savings land profits
How to conjugate "gobble up"
The five tense forms you'll use most often.
Base
gobble up
I/you/we/they
3rd person
gobbles up
he/she/it
Past simple
gobbled up
yesterday
Past participle
gobbled up
have + pp
-ing form
gobbling up
continuous
Hear "gobble up" in the wild
Listen to native speakers using "gobble up" in real YouTube videos — click a clip to watch it on Looplines.
Keep exploring
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