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.
The sound of swallowing.
A sound of swallowing indicating fear.
(RQ:Sinclair Jungle)
Little Stanislovas was also trembling, and all but too frightened to speak. "They — they sent me to tell you — " he said, with a gulp.
1994, James Charles Collins, Jerry I. Porras, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
Indeed, the envisioned future should produce a bit of "the gulp factor" …, there should be an almost audible "gulp".
To swallow eagerly, or in large draughts; to swallow up; to take down at one swallow.
Cowper
He does not swallow, but he gulps it down.
Fielding
The old man (..) glibly gulped down the whole narrative.
1930, P. G. Wodehouse, A Damsel in Distress, 2004, page 198
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! …"
2003, Carl Deuker, High Heat, page 140
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.
2006, Nancy Anne Nicholson, Thin White Female in No Acute Distress: A Memoir, page 187
My heart was beating madly and I was gulping nervous energy.
Indication of an involuntary fear reaction.
1982, Gary Smalley, If Only He Knew, page 163
"Honey, I know you want to go to their home next week, hut 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.) …"
fly; opening in a man's pants to facilitate relieving himself