glutton

Etymology

Middle English, from Old French gloton, gluton, from Latin gluto, glutonis (“glutton”). Application of the term to the wolverine was due to the belief that the animal was inordinately voracious, and to the German designation of it as the Vielfraß, which was analyzed as viel (“much”) + fressen (“eat”) although it actually derives from Old Norse.

adj

1. Gluttonous; greedy; gormandizing.
   So, so, thou common dog, didst thou disgorge Thy glutton bosom of the royal Richard? 1597, William Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV i 3

noun

1. One who eats voraciously, obsessively, or to excess; a gormandizer.
   Such a glutton would eat until his belly hurts.
2. (by extension) One who consumes anything voraciously, obsessively, or to excess.
   Gluttons in murder, wanton to destroy. 1705, George Granville, The British Enchanters
   "A good few indeed, my man," replied the captain. "Yes, you may make away with a deal of money and be neither drunkard nor glutton." 1878, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native
3. (now rare) The wolverine, Gulo gulo.
   [A] civil establishment […] is the animal called a glutton, which falling from a tree (in which it generally conceals itself) upon some noble animal, immediately begins to tear it, and suck its blood […]. 1791, Joseph Priestley, Letters to Burke, section VII

verb

1. (archaic) To glut; to satisfy (especially an appetite) by filling to capacity.
   Glutton'd at last, return at home to pine. a. 1657, Richard Lovelace, On Sanazar's Hundred Duckets by hte Clarissimi of Venice
   In some cities their [local branches] have become gluttoned with success, and in their misguided overzealous ambition they are 'killing the goose that lays the golden egg.' 1915, Journeyman Barber, Hairdresser, Cosmetologist and Proprietor
2. (obsolete) To glut; to eat voraciously.
   Whereon in Egypt gluttoning they fed. 1604, Michael Drayton, Moses in a Map of his Miracles
   Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day, / Or gluttoning on all, or all away. 1598, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 75