gas
Pluralgases (some meanings), gasses (some meanings)
Pluralgases (some meanings), gasses (some meanings)
- 1Gasoline, the light petroleum-based liquid that is burned as fuel.
The car was nearly out of gas by the time they reached the exit.
Gas prices spiked after the refinery shut down.
UsageBritish English says petrol, so run out of gas sounds American there.
Similargasoline, petrol, juice
Note
A clipping of gasoline that became the everyday word for car fuel in the US, Canada and the Philippines. Because it is a clipping, the liquid in the tank is "gas" without being anything like the gaseous fuel.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Gas in the gasoline sense is a clipping of gasoline. en.wikipedia.org
- Gas meaning gasoline denotes a liquid rather than a gaseous fuel. simple.wiktionary.org
- 2A flammable gas, especially natural gas, burned as fuel for cooking, heating, and power, or the supply of it piped to homes and businesses.
The new power plant burns gas to generate electricity for the region.
She smelled gas in the kitchen and opened the windows before checking the stove.
UsageA gas leak in the kitchen means this fuel; running out of gas on the road means gasoline.
Note
Kitchen stoves and gas-fired power stations burn this fuel, which stays gaseous. It is distinct from gas meaning gasoline, a clipping of gasoline, which was itself formed from gas.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Natural gas is used as cooking fuel. eia.gov
- Gas-fired power stations burn gas fuel. eia.gov
- Natural gas is gaseous under ordinary conditions of use. afdc.energy.gov
- Gas meaning gasoline is a clipping of gasoline. en.wiktionary.org
- Gasoline was formed from gas with chemical suffixes. en.wikipedia.org
- 3The state of matter, like that of air or steam, that has no fixed shape or volume and spreads to fill any space, or a substance such as oxygen in that state.
Oxygen is a colorless, odorless gas essential to most life on Earth.
Volcanoes release several gases, including sulfur dioxide and water vapor.
UsagePlural gases (also gasses) for kinds of substance; the state of matter is uncountable: water turns to gas.
- 4A poisonous substance in gaseous form, especially one used as a weapon in war.
Both sides used gas during the First World War, with horrific casualties.
The crowd scattered as gas drifted across the square, stinging eyes and throats.
UsageWorks easily before a noun: gas shells, a gas attack.
Note
Military usage shortens poison gas to plain gas and lets context supply the menace. It is also the sense behind the verb for attacking with gas, which carries the same grim weight.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Military language uses plain gas for chemical warfare agents. gutenberg.org
- The verb gas refers to exposing someone to poisonous gas, connecting it to this noun sense. gutenberg.org
- 5Air and gases formed during digestion that collect in the stomach or intestines, causing bloating or passed out of the body; flatus.
He skipped the broccoli because it always gives him gas.
Carbonated drinks made her bloated and full of gas on the flight.
UsageUsually no article: broccoli gives him gas; full of gas.
Similarwind
- 6Short for gas pedal: the accelerator, the pedal a driver presses to make a vehicle go faster.
She eased off the gas as the curve approached.
He stomped on the gas to pass the slow-moving truck.
UsageLives in phrases of motion: step on the gas, hit the gas, ease off the gas.
Note
It began in North American English but is now heard in Britain too, especially from driving instructors and motoring fans.
Less common meanings
- 7To fill a vehicle's fuel tank with gasoline or other fuel.
Gas up before you cross the desert; stations are scarce out there.
They gassed the rental car up on the way back to the airport.
UsageMost often gas up: gas up the car. Refuel works everywhere.
Similarrefuel
Note
A verb built on the clipping of gasoline, and it belongs to American usage. Those are the same spellings as the poison-gas verb, so only context separates a gassed car from a gassed trench.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The refuelling verb derives from gas, a clipping of gasoline. en.wiktionary.org
- 8To attack, injure, or kill people or animals with poison gas, or to fill a place with it for that purpose.
Exterminators sometimes gas rodent colonies that tunnel under airport runways.
Thousands of soldiers were gassed in the trenches during the First World War.
UsageDoubles the s: gassed, gassing. The passive is common: was gassed.
Note
The passive is common because the word so often records what happened to a victim, as in "he was gassed on the Western Front." That history keeps it heavy, so it is never a casual synonym for poison.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The illustrative Western Front example accurately reflects the verb's historical poison-gas sense; it is not attributed to a particular speaker. en.wiktionary.org
- 9To use up one's energy and end up exhausted and winded, especially in a fight or game; often used in the form gassed.
The challenger came out swinging but started to gas by the fourth round.
Our team gassed in the second half and gave up three easy baskets in a row.
UsageCommon after be or look: he was gassed by the fourth round, she looked gassed.
Note
Sports slang pictures a tiring athlete as a car running out of gas. Context keeps it apart from the poison-gas verb, which shares the form gassed.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The exhaustion sense uses the metaphor of running out of fuel. en.wiktionary.org
- 10To emit or release gas.
Lead-acid batteries gas when they are overcharged, releasing hydrogen.
The sealed drum had been gassing for weeks before anyone noticed the bulge.
Similarvent
- 11To impregnate or charge something with gas.
To keep the meat looking red, the trays are gassed with a mix of oxygen and carbon dioxide before sealing.
Many breweries gas their empty kegs with carbon dioxide to push out oxygen before filling them.
Similarcarbonate, charge, fill, pressurize
- 12To feed more fuel to a vehicle's engine so that it speeds up.
When the light turned green, she gassed it and pulled ahead of the bus.
Don't gas the engine while it's still warming up.
UsageOften used with it as the object: gas it.
Similarfloor, gun, rev, accelerate
Oppositebrake
Note
An American verb made from the pedal, most at home with "it" as its object: "The cops are coming. Gas it!" It is the one-word version of step on the gas and hit the gas.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The acceleration verb is American English. en.wiktionary.org
- 13Of high quality; excellent.
The first half of the album is gas, but it loses steam after that.
Everyone said the trailer was gas, and the movie actually lived up to it.
UsageUsually after be: the album is gas. Do not confuse it with a gas, meaning great fun.
Similarfire, dope, excellent, great
Note
It is recent slang, close kin to the slang for good marijuana.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The excellent sense is related to gas meaning high-quality marijuana. en.wiktionary.org
- 14Marijuana, typically of high quality.
The dispensary's top shelf is reserved for gas that sells out by Friday.
He rolled up some gas he had been saving since his birthday.
UsageSay some gas or top-shelf gas, with no a.
Note
Slang in which the word itself carries the praise: gas is not just marijuana but the good kind. It belongs to the same family of slang praise as the adjective for high quality.
- 15
- 16Comical or zany; amusing and great fun.
My grandmother is gas once she gets going on her old stories.
The whole night out was gas, from the karaoke to the late-night diner.
UsageAfter be, no article: he's gas. With an article, a gas is the older noun meaning a fun thing.
Similarhilarious, funny, comical, zany
Note
Liz Nugent's novel Lying in Wait (2016) has "gas fun," and a gas man is someone who is great fun, not someone who reads meters.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Liz Nugent wrote the novel Lying in Wait. liznugent.com
- Lying in Wait was first published in 2016. cdn.penguin.co.uk
- Lying in Wait contains the wording “gas fun.” en.wiktionary.org
- 17Frothy or boastful talk; idle chatter.
Investors finally saw through the founder's gas.
All that gas about record profits hid a company in real trouble.
Similarbluster, bombast, blather, hype, puffery
Note
Talk that is all air: the slang pictures empty boasting as so much vapor, and it is still current. Soph Aspin and Millie B's "About That" (2017) uses it in a line telling someone to quit the empty talk.
- 18To chatter, or to talk in a bragging or empty-headed way.
He'd rather gas about his big plans than start the actual work.
The salesmen sat around the lobby, gassing about their best deals.
UsageUse about to introduce the topic: They were gassing about their deals.
Similarchatter, blather, brag, boast, yak
Note
"Don't keep on gassing about it," says Digory in C. S. Lewis's The Magician's Nephew (1955). Stephen Crane's Twelve O'Clock (1899) uses the older preposition: always gassing of phantom investors.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Digory says the quoted words in The Magician's Nephew; the excerpt omits the introductory “Well.” judithwolfe.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk
- C. S. Lewis wrote The Magician's Nephew, first published in 1955. en.wikipedia.org
- Stephen Crane's Twelve O'Clock was published in 1899. en.wiktionary.org
- Twelve O'Clock contains “always gassing of phantom investors,” using “of” where Lewis uses “about.” en.wikisource.org
- 19An event, person, or thing that is humorous or entertaining.
The whole weekend was a gas. Nobody wanted it to end.
Two more girls came in, one in bright pink stretch pants and the other in purple. “Man this place is a gas,” said pink.
1963, Gloria Steinem, “A Bunny's Tale”UsageUsually a gas, as in it's a gas.
Similarblast, hoot, riot, ball, laugh
Note
Gloria Steinem recorded it in 1963 in "A Bunny's Tale," and it runs through the 1970s in T. Rex's "Life's a Gas" (1971), Pink Floyd's "Money" (1973) and Blondie's "Heart of Glass" (1978).
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Gloria Steinem recorded this sense in "A Bunny's Tale" in 1963. en.wiktionary.org
- T. Rex's "Life's a Gas" dates to 1971 and exemplifies this sense. en.wiktionary.org
- Pink Floyd's "Money" dates to 1973 and exemplifies this sense. en.wiktionary.org
- Blondie's "Heart of Glass" appeared in 1978 and exemplifies this sense. en.wikipedia.org
- 20A substance inhaled during medical treatment to dull pain or make the patient unconscious, notably nitrous oxide as given by dentists or to women in labor.
Nervous patients can ask for gas before the dentist starts drilling.
Midway through labor, she switched from gas to an epidural.
- 21An arterial or venous blood gas; a measurement of the gases dissolved in a blood sample.
- 22A unit measuring the computational effort needed to carry out an operation on the Ethereum network, paid for in ether as a fee.
- 23A fastball, especially one thrown at high speed.
- 24To deceive or take advantage of someone through boastful talk.
- 25To singe yarn or fabric, as in a gas flame, so as to remove loose surface fibers.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
English borrowed Dutch gas, a word coined by the chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont, who used it in his Latin writings before his death in 1644. He based it on Ancient Greek χάος (kháos), a word for "chasm, void, empty space," perhaps also with geest ("breath, vapor, spirit") in mind. Gas and chaos are doublets.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 8 facts
- English borrowed gas from Dutch. en.wiktionary.org
- Jan Baptist van Helmont was a chemist. en.wikipedia.org
- Van Helmont coined gas. web.lemoyne.edu
- Van Helmont used gas in Latin writings composed during his lifetime. sas-space.sas.ac.uk
- Van Helmont died in 1644. en.wikipedia.org
- Van Helmont based gas on Greek χάος. en.wikipedia.org
- Ancient Greek χάος means chasm, void or empty space. en.wiktionary.org
- English gas and chaos are etymological doublets. en.wiktionary.org
A clipping of 'gasoline'.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Gas, meaning gasoline, is a clipping of gasoline. fr.wiktionary.org