agog

See also: -agog

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French, en + gogues (in a merry mood). See also the Italian agognare (to desire eagerly).

Pronunciation

  • (file)
  • (US) IPA(key): /əˈɡɒɡ/
  • Rhymes: -ɒɡ

Adjective

agog (comparative more agog, superlative most agog)

  1. In eager desire, eager, astir.
  2. (chiefly of eyes) Wide open.
    • 1860, John Greenleaf Whittier, “The Two-Headed Snake of Newbury”, in Home Ballads:
      Cotton Mather came galloping down
      All the way to Newbury town,
      With his eyes agog and his ears set wide,
      And his marvellous inkhorn at his side;
    • 1894, Ford Madox Ford, The queen who flew: a fairy tale‎, page 41:
      . . . and did not move even when the frogs crept out of the water and listened, with their gold-rimmed eyes all agog, and their yellow throats palpitating.
    • 1940, Agatha Christie, Sad Cypress, page 9:
      People leaning forward, their lips parted a little, their eyes agog, staring at her, Elinor, with a horrible ghoulish excitement . . .
    • 1964, Ken Kesey, Sometimes a Great Notion, page 190:
      Joe shook his head in awe, eyes agog and mouth hanging open as mine once must have hung for the tales of the north woods' legendary denizens.

Synonyms

  • all agog, all a-gog

Translations

Adverb

agog (comparative more agog, superlative most agog)

  1. In a state of high anticipation, excitement, or interest.

Translations

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