Definition of "gulp" []

• To swallow greedily or rapidly in large amounts: gulp down coffee. (verb-transitive)
• To choke back by or as if by swallowing. (verb-transitive)
• To choke or gasp, as in swallowing large amounts of liquid. (verb-intransitive)
• To swallow air audibly, as in nervousness. (verb-intransitive)
• The act of gulping. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Every gulp is conscious, difficult, near-desperate, the flailing of a decked fish."
• "Think about it, if you went to med school you'd still be in ... gulp ... school."
• "He takes a gulp from a flask of brackish water and strains in the saddle as his horse slips and rights itself, sending stones bouncing down a steep, dry slope."