Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to lie.

1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 58: I should [...] Have call’d him an old guzzling nurse.
1797		Bridges Burlesque Homer (4th edn) I 80: [as cit. 1772].

2. to swindle.

1830		Owl (NY) 14 Aug. n.p.: A black female, whom he guzzled out of her hot corn, by giving her a pewter 25 cent piece.
1848		in R.W. Paul Mining Frontiers of the Far West (1963) 13: Two little newspapers published in San Francisco denounced the whole business as ‘superlatively silly,’ ‘all, sham, a superb take-in as was ever got up to guzzle the gullible’.
1887		G. Devol Forty Years a Gambler 278: Them tarnal fellers guzzled me out of $1,000 in Cincinnater.

3. to strangle, to throttle, to murder; thus guzzler, one who employs this method.

1885		F. Gordon Pyotshaw 318: Gurry-wurry, an angry discussion. Guzzle, to choke violently .
1894		Freeman’s Jrnl 15 Feb. 6/5: The constable then [...] ‘guzzled’ Miss M’Dowell [who] gave evidence in support of the charge of assault.
1903		Dundee Courier 25 Aug. 6/4: He attacked Mrs Kelly [...] as she said, he ‘guzzled’ her by the throat.
1916		Joyce Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man 195: Duck him! Guzzle him now, Towser!
1926		S. O’Casey Plough and the Stars Act I: She flew at me like a tiger, an’ thried to guzzle me!
1931		D. Runyon ‘The Old Doll’s House’ Runyon on Broadway (1954) 65: The best thing he can do is to guzzle the old doll.
1940		O. Strange Sudden Takes the Trail 47: Helluva trick, guzzlin’ one.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 89/2: Guzzle. To strangle by an arm-lock, rendering a victim unconscious. [...] Guzzler. One who guzzles victims.
1972		J.B. Keane Letters of Irish Parish Priest 63: ‘If you so much as mention her name again,’ he threatened, ‘I’ll guzzle you.’.
1979		H. Leonard A Life (1981) Act II: I’ll guzzle him.
1987		(con. 1920s) L. Redmond Emerald Square 79: I’ll feckin’ guzzle him.

4. to understand, to ‘swallow’.

1938

C. Plunkett ‘The Devil’s Race Track’ Detective Yarns Sept. 🌐 Guzzle this, Sherlock: Has it ever trickled through your fat head that it takes juice to run a private hot-squat?

5. (UK Und.) to arrest; to interrogate.

1936		D. Maurer ‘Argot of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 1 in AS XI:2 122/1: guzzled. Arrested. Apparently refers rather to the addict than to the peddler, who is knocked off.
1937		‘Boxcar Bertha’ Sister of the Road (1975) 107: Lucille came in with three dresses and said that Anna had just been ‘guzzled,’ (that is, arrested).
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 110: guzzle Third degree questioning.
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).

6. to indulge in sexual foreplay, to ‘neck’.

1938		D. Runyon ‘Little Miss Marker’ Runyon on Broadway (1954) 301: Sorrowful goes home early and catches Sleep-out guzzling Mam’selle Fifi.
1979		J. Morrow Confessions of Proinsias O’Toole 17: We guzzled a bit and I treated my self to a farewell fiddle while the Major made a great show of looking the other way.