drygulch en · VERB
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
- /ˈdɹaɪ.ɡʌlt͡ʃ/ (US)
- /ˈdɹʌɪɡʌltʃ/ (UK)
Etymology
Because in the American West, outlaws often killed people as they passed through a dry gulch; or because cattle rustlers drove stolen animals off the edge of such a gulch. (ref. John Ayto 1998)
Meanings
-
(US, slang) To murder; to attack, assault, especially in an ambush.
You've delivered yourselves into the hands of capitalists and Christers, and anybody wants to change any of that steps across ’at frontera, they're drygulched on the spot—though I'm sure you'd know how to avoid that, Dwayne.
2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, pages 722–3:‘Then one of them got into the car and dry-gulched me.’
1940, Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin, page 77:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| dry gulch | alternative | lexicographic | |
| dry-gulch | alternative | lexicographic | |
| drygulching | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| drygulches | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| drygulched | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| drygulched | Tense=Past | lexicographic |
Translations (2)
pl zabić z zasadzki (to murder in an ambush) · pl zabijać z zasadzki (to murder in an ambush)