gulp

1 a large and hurried swallow; "he finished it at a single gulp" [syn: draft, draught, swig]

2 a spasmodic reflex of the throat made as if in swallowing [syn: gulping]

1 to swallow hurriedly or greedily or in one draught; "The men gulped down their beers" [syn: quaff, swig]

2 utter or make a noise, as when swallowing too quickly; "He gulped for help after choking on a big piece of meat"

English

Noun

1. The usual amount swallowed.
2. The sound of swallowing.
3. A sound of swallowing indicating fear.
   • 1906, Upton Sinclair, The Jungle

     Little Stanislovas was also trembling, and all but too frightened to speak. "They — they sent me to tell you — " he said, with a gulp.

   • 1994, James Charles Collins, Jerry I. Porras, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies

     Indeed, the envisioned future should produce a bit of "the gulp factor" […], there should be an almost audible "gulp".

Translations

• Bosnian: gutljaj
• Croatian: gutljaj
• Serbian:

  Cyrillic: гутљај

  Roman: gutljaj

• Telugu: గుక్క (gukka), గుటక (guTaka)

Verb

1. To swallow.
2. To react nervously by swallowing.
   • 1930, P. G. Wodehouse, A Damsel in Distress, 2004, page 198

     The man eyed Percy with a chilly eye. "Well," he said, "What's troublin you?" Percy gulped. The man's mere appearance was a sedative. "Er-nothing! […]"

   • 2003, Carl Deuker, High Heat, page 140

     I'd always been nervous-excited; this was nervous-terrified. When I finished puking, I sat down gulping air for a while, trying to pull myself together.

   • 2006, Nancy Anne Nicholson, Thin White Female in No Acute Distress: A Memoir, page 187

     My heart was beating madly and I was gulping nervous energy.

Translations

Interjection

1. Indication of an involuntary fear reaction.
   • 1982, Gary Smalley, If Only He Knew, page 163

     "Honey, I know you want to go to their home next week, hut there's one thing that keeps happening when we're together that really drives me away from social gatherings in general. (Oh, what is it … gulp.) Well, I'm not sure I can really explain it without offending you. (Gulp, gulp.) Do you really want to talk about it? (Yes.) […]"

Related terms

• gulp down

Anagrams

• plug

External links

• pedialite swallowing

Dutch

Noun

1. fly; opening in a man's pants to facilitate relieving himself.

Swallowing, known scientifically as deglutition, is the process in the human or animal body that makes something pass from the mouth, to the pharynx, into the esophagus, with the shutting of the epiglottis. If this fails and the object goes through the trachea, then choking or pulmonary aspiration can occur. In the human body it is controlled by the swallowing reflex.

In humans

Coordination and control

The mechanism for swallowing is co-ordinated by the swallowing centre in the medulla oblongata and pons. The reflex is initiated by touch receptors in the pharynx as a bolus of food is pushed to the back of the mouth by the tongue.

Swallowing is a complex mechanism using both skeletal muscle (tongue) and smooth muscles of the pharynx and esophagus. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) coordinates this process in the pharyngeal and esophgeal phases.

Phases

Normal swallowing consists of four phases: oral preparatory, oral transport, pharyngeal, and esophageal (not all sources consider oral preparatory a distinct phase).

Oral preparatory phase

In this phase, the food is processed by mastication, combined with the movement of the tongue form a bolus to an appropriate size to pass through the pharynx and esophagus.

Oral transport (or "buccal") phase

When the bolus is ready to enter the oral stage, it is first moved to the back of the tongue. Next, the anterior tongue lifts to the hard palate and retracts in a posterior direction to force the bolus to the oropharynx. Then, the posterior tongue is lifted by the styloglossus and palatoglossus muscles, which also elevates the uvula and seals the nasopharynx to prevent nasal aspiration. This phase is voluntary and involves important cranial nerves: V (trigeminal), VII (facial), and XII (hypoglossal).

Pharyngeal phase

In this phase, the bolus is advanced from the pharynx to the esophagus through peristalsis. The soft palate is elevated to the posterior nasopharyngeal wall, through the action of the levator veli palatini. The palatopharyngeal folds on each side of the pharynx are brought close together through the superior constrictor muscles, so that only a small bolus can pass. Then the larynx and hyoid are elevated and pulled forward to the epiglottis to relax the cricopharyngeus muscle. This passively shuts off its entrance and the vocal cords are pulled close together, narrowing the passageway between them. This phase is passively controlled reflexively and involves cranial nerves V, X (vagus), XI (accessory), and XII (hypoglossal) The respiratory centre of the medulla is directly inhibited by the swallowing centre for the very brief time that it takes to swallow. This is known as deglutition apnoea.

Esophageal phase

The upper oesophageal sphincter relaxes to let food past, after which various striated constrictor muscles of the pharynx as well as peristalsis and relaxation of the lower esophageal sphincter sequentially push the bolus of food through the esophagus into the stomach.

In terminally ill patients, a failure of the reflex to swallow leads to a buildup of mucous or saliva in the throat and airways, producing a noise known as a death rattle, or agonal respiration.

Clinical significance

Swallowing becomes a great concern for the elderly since strokes and Alzheimer's disease can interfere with the ANS. Speech therapy is commonly used to correct this condition since the speech process uses the same neuromuscular structures as swallowing.

Abnormalities of the pharynx and/or oral cavity may lead to oropharyngeal dysphagia. Abnormalities of the esophagus may lead to esophageal dysphagia.

In animals

In many birds, the oesophagus is largely merely a gravity chute, and in such events as a seagull swallowing a fish or a stork swallowing a frog, swallowing consists largely of the bird lifting its head with its beak pointing up and guiding the prey with tongue and jaws so that the prey slides inside and down.

In fish, the tongue is largely bony and much less mobile, and getting the food to the back of the pharynx is helped by pumping water in its mouth and out of its gills.

In snakes, the work of swallowing is done by raking with the lower jaw until it is far enough back to be helped down by body undulations.

See also

• Dysphagia
• Speech and language pathology

External links

• Overview at nature.com
• Anatomy and physiology of swallowing at dysphagia.com
• swallowing animation (flash) at hopkins-gi.org

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