gas
/ɡas
/noun (plural gases or chiefly US gasses) [mass noun]
1An air-like fluid substance which expands freely to fill any space available, irrespective of its quantity: hot balls of gas that become stars [count noun]: poisonous gases...
- The spherical wavefront of expanding gasses and space debris burst past the Aspiration, rocking the vehicle even through the shielding.
- He looked over his shoulder at the source of the transmission, only to see a rapidly expanding ball of gasses and wreckage.
- I combined all the ingredients and I tied off the bag leaving plenty of room for the gasses to expand into.
1.1 Physics A gaseous substance that cannot be liquefied by the application of pressure alone. Compare with vapour.Nitrogen dioxide is a brown gas, transformed from nitric oxide contained in emissions....
- The resulting ester was saponified under basic conditions to the free acid, converted to the acyl chloride with thionyl chloride, and then to the amide with anhydrous ammonia gas.
- The simplest sources are hydrogen-rich compounds like hydrogen gas, hydrogen sulfide gas and hydrocarbons.
1.2A flammable gas used as a fuel: cooking is done by bottled gas...
- It can be used as a fuel in power stations to generate electricity or heat as an environmental alternative to burning fossil fuels such as gas, coal and oil.
- So in the House today, the Greens are advocating, for some reason, the burning of fossil fuels - gas in Auckland and diesel along with wind generation.
- We can go on to by-products of petroleum such as plastics and with gas as fuel we can do aluminium products with bauxite from Guyana and Jamaica.
1.3A gaseous anaesthetic such as nitrous oxide, used in dentistry.Two other reports exist of nitrous oxide anaesthesia being used in patients with intraocular gas in a closed eye....
- The condor was put under anaesthetic gas for the 20 minute procedure - carried out by zoo vet Brash in Flamingo Land's own clinic a fortnight ago.
- He compared being so short of hand towels to running out of anaesthetic gas during an operation.
1.4Gas or vapour used as a poisonous agent in warfare: gas was one of the most dreaded weapons of the war...
- He made a specialty of chemical and gas warfare and minefields and his war caused a million deaths.
- Videos from his collection, showing dogs being killed by poisonous gas or a nerve agent, were recently aired on CNN.
- This year is the 90th anniversary of the invention of modern gas warfare.
1.5North American Gas generated in the alimentary canal; flatulence.This slows down your digestion and can cause gas to build up....
- For general bloating and gas, over-the-counter products containing simethicone can help.
- This almost involuntary practice relieves the symptom but it also produces gas and bloating.
1.6 Mining An explosive mixture of firedamp with air.To clear mines of gas - be it explosive or poisonous - a crude system of ventilation was used....
- Late in the afternoon, during the shift change, an explosion of methane gas, "firedamp," blasted deep in the underground workings.
2North American informal short for gasoline. we stopped for gas...
- But we do know she encountered them in her attempt to stop and get gas.
- The Turkish move to stop buying gas altogether paid off and Iran finally agreed to decrease the prices.
- Sometimes Bud stops to get gas, and this always feels like a momentous occasion.
2.1Used in reference to power or the accelerator of a car: I ordered my friend to step on the gas...
- He stepped on the gas and the rear end of his car first swerved gently to the right, and then to the left.
- As soon as she was out of the car, Ray stepped on the gas and shot forward, trying to run over my grandmother.
- The victim reported that she placed her vehicle in reverse and ducked down as she stepped on the gas swerving back and forth out of the immediate intersection.
3 (a gas) informal An entertaining or amusing person or situation: the party would be a gas...
- We both thought it a bit crazy at the time, and we also thought it would be a gas.
- Since then, it's been a rather gentle decline, although many in the UK during the 80s and 90s still thought I was a gas.
3.1 [mass noun] Irish Enjoyment, amusement, or fun: it was great gas in the club last night...
- It was great gas and he always ended up feeling glad that he lived in Ireland after he'd watch it.
verb (gases, gassing, gassed) [with object]
1Kill or harm by exposure to gas: my son was gassed at Verdun...
- But it's only at the end of the film that we learn what appears to have really happened: it is he himself who killed his mother, gassing her whilst apparently suffering from a delusion that she is another person.
- Six death camps were built in occupied Poland to systematically kill people who were gassed and their bodies burned in crematoria.
- How would he feel if his father had been gassed, shot or hung in Auschwitz or Dachau, instead of his luckier fate, enjoying a good, long life hurling insults at others?
1.1 [no object] (Of a storage battery or dry cell) give off gas: (as noun gassing) the maintenance-free charger controls the input without inducing gassing...
- It is however possible to compress the cell packs subsequent to their formation and prior to inserting them into their final container to expel at least a proportion of their electrolyte which will reduce the amount of electrolyte which needs to be gassed off in the finished cells.
2 [no object] informal Talk excessively about trivial matters: I thought you’d never stop gassing...
- Elsewhere, Ofcom's Communications Market 2004 report found that people are spending loads more time online, oodles more time gassing on their mobile phones but only a smidgen more watching TV.
- And LA Weekly opined that ‘Lopez and Affleck try not to smile at each other while gassing on and on until you're praying, dear God, please make them shut up and do it so we can all go home in peace’.
- First, the idea that the acme of being civilised is lying around your dining table gassing about culture and politics in a nice city, while the slaves do the washing up.
3North American informal Fill the tank of (a motor vehicle) with petrol: after gassing up the car, he went into the restaurant...
- The left tank was for gassing up the lawnmower, cars, and pickups and the right tank was for fueling the grain truck, the haystack movers, and anything John Deere green.
- They can gas my car and change four tires in less then fourteen seconds during a pit stop.
- Tess went into the convenience store to pay as Michael gassed the car.
adjective Irish informal
Very amusing or entertaining: Ruthie, that’s gas—you’re a gem...
- That sounds gas that the two of them are chattering and getting on so well.
Phrases
be cooking with gas
run out of gas
Origin
Mid 17th century: invented by J. B. van Helmont (1577–1644), Belgian chemist, to denote an occult principle which he believed to exist in all matter; suggested by Greek khaos 'chaos', with Dutch g representing Greek kh.
Gas is an invented word, coined in the 17th century by the Belgian chemist and physician Joannes Baptista van Helmont (1577–1644), who was the first scientist to realize that there are gases other than air, and who discovered carbon dioxide. Van Helmont based the word on Greek khaos, chaos. It did not really catch on until the 19th century, with earlier scientists like Robert Boyle preferring to think of gases as different types of air. Gas for lighting or heating purposes dates from the late 18th century. The first experiments using coal-gas for lighting are said to have been made by the rector of Crofton, Dr Clayton, in about 1688; gas-lighting in its practical application was due to William Murdock (1754–1839).
Rhymes
- undercart
- undercast
- under caution
- undercharge
- underclass
- underclassman
- undercliff
- undercling
- underclothes
- underclothing
- undercoat
- under colour of
- under consideration
- underconsumption
- under control
- undercook
- undercool
- undercount
- under cover
- undercover
- under cover of
- undercrackers
- undercroft
- undercurrent
- undercut