"Gargantua [Lit.]" A large-mouthed giant with a huge and insatiable appetite in François Rabelais's satire Gargantua (1534). It is from his name that we derive the word gargantuan, meaning ‘enormous or gigantic’.
An enormous or voracious person or institution (adjective Gargantuan)
The nature of the IRS and its role dictate that it will always be what it is. It must be intrusive, tyrannical, and ruthless in order to perform its job of feeding the tax-devouring Gargantua that the Federal Government has become.
Financial Sense Online: 2005 editorials 2005
How to cite this entry:
"Gargantua" The Oxford Dictionary of Reference and Allusion. by Andrew Delahunty and Sheila Dignen. Oxford University Press Inc. The Oxford Dictionary of Reference and Allusion. Oxford University Press. 20 September 2011
"Gargantua" The Oxford Dictionary of Reference and Allusion. by Andrew Delahunty and Sheila Dignen. Oxford University Press Inc. The Oxford Dictionary of Reference and Allusion. Oxford University Press. 20 September 2011
