gag
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: broadcasting
film
law
media
television
Etymology: The noun is from Early Modern English gagge; the verb is from Middle English gaggen. Possibly imitative or perhaps related to or influenced by Old Norse gag-háls ("with head thrown backwards"; > Norwegian dialectal gaga (“bent backwards”)). The intransitive sense "to retch" is from 1707. The noun is from the 16th century, figurative use (for "repression of speech") from the 1620s. The secondary meaning "(practical) joke" is from 1863, of unclear origin.
Inflected forms:
form: gags
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: gags
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: gagging
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: gagged
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: gagged
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A device to restrain speech, such as a rag in the mouth secured with tape or a rubber ball threaded onto a cord or strap.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Blood may seep to the back of the throat and may clot, producing an “artificial gag” of clotted blood.
gloss: An order or rule forbidding discussion of a case or subject.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Any suppression of freedom of speech.
pos: noun
tags: countable
figuratively
uncountable
examples: Civil Court blocks PM's gag on free speech
gloss: A joke or other mischievous prank.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: We all know how genius “Kamp Krusty,” “A Streetcar Named Marge,” “Homer The Heretic,” “Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie” and “Mr. Plow” are, but even the relatively unheralded episodes offer wall-to-wall laughs and some of the smartest, darkest, and weirdest gags ever Trojan-horsed into a network cartoon with a massive family audience.
gloss: a device or trick used to create a practical effect; a gimmick
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: On Hacksaw Ridge, Oliver and his team of effects artisans devised gags for that spectacular flamethrower shot along with other devastating body and bullet hits, and several mortar and full-scale explosions, all aimed at communicating the reality of battle.
gloss: A convulsion of the upper digestive tract.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A mouthful that makes one retch or choke.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
countable
uncountable
examples: L. has recorded the repugnance of the school to gags, or the fat of fresh beef boiled, and sets it down to some superstition.
...and to take that fire behind the bony bars of the chest and into the tower of the windpipe, in one breath, before you choke on a gag of air thickened from the last breath of the executed the breathing of hot barrels and blood streaming on concrete,...
gloss: Unscripted lines introduced by an actor into his part.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
slang
uncountable
examples: "The Critic" has long been known in the theatre as a "gag-piece;" that is, a play which the performers consider themselves entitled to treat with the most merciless licence.
[…] and my actors imbibe a reverence for their author, sir, which reverence I regret to observe is fast vanishing, in other places, under the baneful influence of gag, sir, gag! We play no pranks with the text, sir, in my company; if you cannot improve your author, which is generally doubtful, don't make him worse than he is.
The intelligent perfumer will evolve "gag" as he goes to suit the circumstances,[…]
gloss: Any of species Mycteroperca microlepis of groupers.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The shallow water groups (Family Serranidae), including gag (Mycteroperca microlepis), black grouper (M. bonaci), scamp (M. phenax), and red grouper (Epinephalus morio), support major commercial and recreational fisheries in the southeastern United States.
gloss: A shocking or surprising thing.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: That’s why it was a surprise when Elecktra Bionic won instead of her. No queen in Drag Race history had ever won with no challenge wins before Elecktra, so to say it was a gag would be an understatement.
gloss: To experience the vomiting reflex.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: He gagged when he saw the open wound.
gloss: To cause to heave with nausea.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: His empty stomach was suddenly full of butterflies, and for the first time since arriving here at scenic Durkin Grove Village, he felt an urge to gag himself. He would be able to think more clearly about this if he just stuck his fingers down his throat […]
gloss: To restrain someone's speech by blocking his or her mouth.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: “[…] Captain Markam had been found lying half-insensible, gagged and bound, on the floor of the sitting-room, his hands and feet tightly pinioned, and a woollen comforter wound closely round his mouth and neck ; whilst Mrs. Markham's jewel-case, containing valuable jewellery and the secret plans of Port Arthur, had disappeared. […]”
They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead, / But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed; / Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!
gloss: To pry or hold open by means of a gag.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 1917, Francis Gregor (translator), De Laudibus Legum Angliae, Sir John Fortescue, written 1468–1471, first published 1543.
[…] some have their mouths gagged to such a wideness, for a long time, whereat such quantities of water are poured in, that their bellies swell to a prodigious degree […]
gloss: To restrain someone's speech without using physical means.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
examples: When the financial irregularities were discovered, the CEO gagged everyone in the accounting department.
The time was not yet come when eloquence was to be gagged, and reason to be hoodwinked.
Vaid blasted the Bush administration for gagging doctors from discussing abortion.
gloss: To choke; to retch.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
gloss: To deceive (someone); to con.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
obsolete
slang
examples: I endeavoured what I could to soften off the affectation of her sudden change of Disposition; and I gagged the Gentleman with as much ease as my very little ease would allow me to assume.
gloss: To astonish (someone); to leave speechless.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I knew who you were as a [RuPaul's] Drag Race fan. So I was gagged personally and I still am gagged, but it was quite divine intervention. Thom Kerr, the photographer, really got the ball rolling and I had no idea what to expect of this shoot besides greatness.
Synonyms: gag order
Related words: blech
retch
ag-gag
Derived words: antigag
ballgag
ball gag
blackout gag
cleave gag
couch gag
detective gag
gag-a-day
gagfest
gaggery
gag gift
gaggy
gagless
gagman
gagmeister
gag reel
gag reflex
gag rein
gagroot
gag rule
gag runner
gagsmith
gagster
gag store
gagtooth
gagworthy
gagwriter
gagwriting
go along with the gag
handgag
pacifier gag
paci gag
ring gag
running gag
sight gag
spider gag
tape gag
gag a buzzard off a gut wagon
gag a dog off a gut wagon
gag a maggot
gaggable
gaggee
gagger
gag it
gag me with a spoon
regag
ungag
Translations:
lang: Catalan
word: emmordassar
lang: Danish
word: kneble
lang: Dutch
word: knevelen
lang: Finnish
word: suukapuloida
lang: French
word: bâillonner
lang: Georgian
word: ჩაჩუმება
roman: čačumeba
lang: Georgian
word: ხმის ჩაწყვეტინება
roman: xmis čac̣q̇veṭineba
lang: German
word: knebeln
lang: German
word: mundtot machen
lang: Italian
word: imbavagliare
lang: Māori
word: koromōkā
lang: Māori
word: whakamōkā
lang: Polish
word: kneblować
lang: Polish
word: zakneblować
lang: Portuguese
word: amordaçar
lang: Spanish
word: amordazar