gases

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of gas.

   The factory released several harmful gases into the surrounding air.

   The noble gases rarely react with other elements.

   Note

   Only some of the noun's meanings take a plural. Gas as a state of matter, a cooking fuel, a poison or flatus is a mass noun. Gases counts the separate substances in that state: the noble gases, greenhouse gases, the toxic gases from a fire. The other countable use is a hob on a gas cooker, so gases can also mean the burners on a stove.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of gas.

   The crew gases the sealed chamber to check it for leaks.

   He always gases the car the night before a road trip.

   Note

   The spelling is shared with the noun plural, so grammar does the sorting: after a subject, as in it gases or she gases, the word is the verb. The verb has several meanings. It can mean attacking with poison gas, filling something with gas, or giving off gas. One slang use means talking boastfully or idly (he gases about his promotion), and it is best kept to casual speech.

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