Brewer's: Garagantua

(g hard). The giant that swallowed five pilgrims with their staves and all in a salad. From a book entitled The History of Garagantua, 1594. Laneham, however, mentions the book of Garagantua in 1575. The giant in Rabelais is called Gargantua (q.v.).

“You must borrow me Gargantua's mouth first [before I can utter so long a word]; `tis a word too great for any mouth of this age's size.” —Shakespeare: As You Like It, iii. 2.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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