English
gag
see also: GAG
Pronunciation Noun

gag (plural gags)

  1. 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.
  2. (legal) An order or rule forbidding discussion of a case or subject.
  3. A joke or other mischievous prank.
  4. (film) a device or trick used to create a practical effect; a gimmick
  5. A convulsion of the upper digestive tract.
  6. (archaic) A mouthful that makes one retch or choke.
  7. Mycteroperca microlepis, a species of grouper.
    Synonyms: gag grouper
Synonyms Translations Translations
  • German: Maulkorberlass
Translations Translations
  • French: haut-le-coeur
Verb

gag (gags, present participle gagging; past and past participle gagged)

  1. (intransitive) To experience the vomiting reflex.
    He gagged when he saw the open wound.
  2. (transitive) To cause to heave with nausea.
    • 2008, Stephen King, "A Very Tight Place"
      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 […]
  3. (transitive) To restrain someone's speech by blocking his or her mouth.
    • 1906, Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman:
      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!
  4. (transitive) To pry or hold open by means of a gag.
    • 1917, Francis Gregor (translator), De Laudibus Legum Angliae, Sir John Fortescue (judge), 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 […]
  5. (transitive, figuratively) To restrain someone's speech without using physical means.
    When the financial irregularities were discovered, the CEO gagged everyone in the accounting department.
    • c. 1840, Thomas Macaulay, Essay on Machiavelli
      The time was not yet come when eloquence was to be gagged, and reason to be hoodwinked.
  6. (ambitransitive) To choke; to retch.
  7. (ambitransitive, obsolete, slang) To deceive (someone); to con.
    • 1777, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin 2001, p. 79:
      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.
Translations Translations Related terms
GAG
Noun
  1. Abbreviation of group-specific antigen.


This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
Offline English dictionary