"force-feeding of poultry for market," 1889, from French gavage, from gaver "to stuff" (17c.; see gavotte).
Entries linking to gavage
gavotte n.
lively dance, 1690s, from French gavotte (17c.), from Old Provençal gavoto "mountaineer's dance," from gavot, a local name for an Alpine resident, said to mean literally "boor, glutton," from gaver "to stuff, force-feed poultry," from Old Provençal gava "crop." From the same source is French gavache "coward, dastard." The Italianized form is gavotta.