gulosity

noun

gu·​los·​i·​ty g(y)ü-ˈlä-sə-tē 

literary

: excessive appetite : voracity

By the time I was in high school, so convinced was I of the worthiness and delectations of [the English] language, that I pounced upon its literature with a ravenous appetite that, at times, alarmed my father, who thought my sociability was cast into arrears owing to my bookish gulosity.

—Ramnath Subramanian

Did you know?

Gulosity is a rare word for "gluttony" that sees only occasional use in English these days. It derives via Middle English and Anglo-French from the Latin adjective gulosus ("gluttonous") and ultimately from the noun gula ("gullet"). It was apparently a favorite word of famed 18th-century author and lexicographer Samuel Johnson, who has been falsely credited with coining gulosity, even though evidence for the word's use dates back to the 15th century. According to his biographer, James Boswell, Johnson was no light eater himself: he "indulged with such intenseness, that while in the act of eating, the veins of his forehead swelled, and generally a strong perspiration was visible."

Word History

Etymology

Middle English gulosite, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin gulositas, from Latin gulosus gluttonous, from gula gullet

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

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