salivate

“I don’t even play football,” Taylor said with a laugh after his 9.92, a time that would make any college receivers coach salivate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2025

And then as an actor — sorry for getting long-winded, but you asked — when it’s in dialogue, everything the character’s going through, his insecurities, his flaws are actually in words, you salivate.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2024

Two unbeaten champions with differing but equally effective styles produced a match-up of the highest level in a fight to make the boxing purist salivate.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2024

The brothers Roy bring the offer to the "village elders" who salivate at how golden their parachutes will be.

From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2023

I try not to salivate as fresh steam curls up from the pan.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

Pavlov's dog is the most well-known example of classical conditioning, in which a dog salivates in response to a ringing bell because it has formed an associative memory between the bell and food.

From Salon ● Jan. 16, 2022

While working class voters turn hopeful about the jobs the comet will provide, an evil tech mogul salivates at all of the rare Earth metals it contains.

From The Verge ● Dec. 7, 2021

The average weekend hack sees those swings—and even that score—and salivates.

From Golf Digest ● Mar. 20, 2020

And while Bettman salivates over the untapped hockey market in China, there's no agreement for NHL players to participate in the 2022 Beijing Games.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 27, 2018

Part of me is glad Kim is doing this and my mouth salivates at the thought of the food he will bring back.

From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung

Among a certain set—particularly the one I grew up around in Manhattan—we salivated over whose name might be tarnished next.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026

Some preferred to include it in a stew, while others salivated over the golden-brown fried option.

From BBC ● May 11, 2024

Crowds salivated for the chance to catch him in person and watch him tape “War Room.”

From Washington Times ● Mar. 6, 2023

Ever since BioNTech and its occasional corporate partner Pfizer announced they had developed an mRNA vaccine for COVID-19, biotech researchers have salivated over the promise of using mRNA vaccines on other pathogens.

From Salon ● Dec. 29, 2022

One of the smaller girls salivated so heavily the chocolate dribbled syruplike from the comer of her mouth.

From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin

Investors are salivating over the initial public offering of Cerebras Systems.

From Barron's ● May 14, 2026

These candies will have your mouth puckering — and salivating for more.

From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2025

The 90% adoption stat is one that might have many IT leaders salivating, although, for Serhant, “It is, I think, the least sexy thing we do here.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025

"I was sweating, salivating and struggling to concentrate."

From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2025

The point of our exercise was to convince ourselves that the wolf was not actually at the back door but perhaps merely salivating at the edge of our yard.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver