gassed

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of gas.

   The trenches were gassed repeatedly during the prolonged offensive.

   Technicians gassed the sealed chamber to sterilize the equipment.

   Note

   One spelling carries every meaning of the verb gas, and those meanings lie far apart: attacking with poison gas, filling something with gas, giving off gas, and slang for boastful chatter. Only the transitive meanings form a passive, as in the trenches were gassed. The intransitive ones appear only in active perfects, as in he had gassed on for an hour about himself.

2. 2
   adjectiveslang

   Worn out and extremely tired, especially after intense physical effort.

   Like an engine that has burned through its last drop of fuel.

   By the last lap the runners were utterly gassed and could barely keep pace.

   He felt gassed after moving furniture all afternoon.

   Similarexhausted, spent, drained, beat, knackered

   Oppositefresh, rested, energized

   Note

   Spent effort, not intoxication. In Charles Edward Eaton's "The Blue Window" (1994), figures are described this way while still catching their breath, and the word sits naturally beside spent and breathless. It usually follows look, feel or be. Because slang gassed can also mean drunk, a sentence like he looked gassed may need context to show whether the cause was exertion or drink.

3. 3
   adjectiveslang

   Drunk and intoxicated from drinking alcohol.

   By midnight half the guests were gassed and slurring their words.

   He turned up gassed after happy hour and could barely stand.

   Similardrunk, plastered, hammered, wasted, sloshed

   Oppositesober

   Note

   A word for the night out itself. In Max Shulman's Rally Round the Flag, Boys! (1956), the characters propose to "go over to Beer Can Boulevard and get gassed!" Get gassed is the usual way to say become drunk, and be gassed is the way to say being drunk. It is slang, suited to casual talk. The same word also covers being high on drugs, and only the surrounding context tells the two apart.

4. 4
   adjective

   Existing as a gas rather than as a liquid or a solid.

   Like dry ice turning straight into a cloud of vapor.

   Once gassed, the coolant expands to many times its liquid volume.

   Engineers measured the pressure of the gassed nitrogen in the sealed chamber.

   Similargaseous

   Oppositeliquid, liquefied, condensed

5. 5
   adjectiveslang

   High and intoxicated from psychoactive drugs.

   By the second set much of the crowd was gassed on whatever was going around.

   He showed up gassed, pupils wide, barely able to follow the conversation.

   Similarhigh, stoned, wasted, baked

   Oppositesober, straight

   Note

   Here the cause is a drug rather than drink. Robert Sheckley's narrator in "How Lum Joined the Army" (1962) is "pretty well gassed" when he marches off to enlist. That phrase shows the adjective accepts degree words such as pretty well, really or completely. Like the drinking sense, it belongs to slang and casual speech.

6. 6
   adjectiveslang

   Happy and delighted, in high spirits about something.

   He was absolutely gassed when he heard the news.

   They were gassed to be picked for the team.

   Similarthrilled, delighted, chuffed, stoked, elated

   Oppositegutted, disappointed, devastated

   Note

   Pleasure that arrives like a rush. In Frank Marshall Davis's poem "Duke Ellington" (1974), the speaker calls for the music and then cries out to his listeners that he is gassed. Like the other slang uses, it follows be. It can stand alone as an exclamation, or it can take a clause saying what caused the delight. It suits talk among friends better than careful writing.

7. 7
   adjectivedialectalMulticultural London English

   Excited and full of eager anticipation about something ahead.

   Fans were gassed for the season opener.

   She was gassed about starting her new job on Monday.

   Similarexcited, hyped, pumped, psyched, stoked

   Note

   A word from Multicultural London English. Stormzy's "Scary" (2016) uses it as a warning not to let top billing go to your head. To get gassed there is to get carried away by good fortune, with excitement tipping into self-importance. In that use it is often a caution rather than praise. It lies close to the "happy" sense, but the London use carries that sharper edge.

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