gulp

noun

1. The usual amount swallowed.

   “What the liquor was I do not know, but it was not so strong but that I could swallow it in great gulps and found it less burning than my burning throat.”

2. The sound of swallowing, sometimes indicating fear.

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

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

3. (rare)An unspecified small number of bytes, often two.

verb

1. To swallow eagerly, or in large draughts; to swallow up; to take down in one swallow.

   “He does not swallow, but he gulps it down.”

2. To react nervously by swallowing.

   “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! […]"”

   “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.”

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

intj

1. An indication of (the sound of) an involuntary fear reaction in the form of a swallowing motion.

   “"Honey, I know you want to go to their home next week, but 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.) […]"”

   “I wonder: if it had not been for GCN, would I now be the one who settles for the semi-closeted, factionalized world that Bay Windows and its ilk define as Shangri-la? Perhaps. What is certain, however, is that you have never jettisoned concern fror anybody for the sake of popularity and (gulp) assimilationist marketability.”