gag
/ɡæɡ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.63 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
2
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
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.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
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.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Blood may seep to the back of the throat and may clot, producing an “artificial gag” of clotted blood."
- "Civil Court blocks PM's gag on free speech"
- "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."
- "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."
- "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."
- ""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."
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: gaggen, gaghals
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɡæɡ/
- British English: /ɡæɡ/