gasping

Pluralgaspings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of gasp.

   He stood gasping at the top of the hill, unable to speak.

   Gasping in shock, she dropped the letter on the floor.

   Note

   The -ing form carries the whole range of the verb gasp: the sudden breath drawn at a shock, the labored panting after a climb, and breathless speech, as when someone gasps out a warning. It also keeps the figurative sense of panting with eagerness. As a gerund it can look like the noun for the act, but the gerund still behaves like a verb: keep gasping, gasping hard.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act of drawing in a sharp, sudden breath.

   Her gasping grew louder as the smoke filled the hallway.

   A single gasping broke the silence when the lights went out.

   Similarpanting, wheezing

   Note

   A noun that readily takes a plural when the breaths come in a series. Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851) has "sundry violent gaspings and strainings." Paired with another -ing noun like this, the plural names a stretch of labored effort rather than one startled breath. That makes it a good choice for describing struggle, exhaustion or distress that goes on for some time.

3. 3
   adjectiveslangUK

   Extremely thirsty, especially for tea.

   By the time the train pulled in, she was gasping for a brew.

   We've been out in the garden all afternoon and I'm gasping.

   Similarparched, thirsty

   Note

   This is British slang for a thirst that only tea will fix. Kate Ellis has it in The Armada Boy (2011): "Any chance of a cup of tea? I'm gasping." It stands after be, either alone or with for (gasping for a brew), and it has no comparative, so you never say "more gasping." Keep it for casual talk among people who will recognize it.

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