gasser

Pluralgassers

1. 1
   nounslangcountable

   Something hugely entertaining or remarkable; a thing or event that delights everyone.

   The whole evening turned out to be a gasser, with jokes flying all night.

   Critics called the concert a gasser, praising its nonstop energy.

   Similarblast, riot, hoot, knockout, smash

   Oppositedud, flop, drag, bore

   Note

   Slang praise for an occasion or performance that leaves everyone delighted. It behaves like an ordinary countable noun (a gasser, two gassers) and usually takes the article, as in "the party was a gasser." Keep it for casual talk and lively reviews. In formal writing, a plainer word such as delightful or remarkable reads better. It is always a compliment, never a jab.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A person who gasses others, or who poisons with gas.

   The gasser opened the valves and flooded the chamber with poison.

   Wartime accounts condemned the gasser responsible for the attack on the village.

   Similarpoisoner

   Note

   An agent noun built the ordinary way: the verb gas, to poison with gas, plus -er, the suffix that names the doer. The same formation lies behind the word's other meanings. John Michael Hinton's Experiences (1969) shows its grim edge, calling poison gas a two-edged weapon because a turning wind could "gas the gassers." The word assigns blame to those who use the weapon, not to those it strikes.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   Any car or truck that runs on pump gas, as opposed to diesel fuel, racing fuel, or an electric motor.

   He kept his gasser tuned for the daily commute across town.

   The fleet was a mix of diesels and gassers, with no electric vehicles yet.

   Oppositediesel

   Note

   Here the word sorts vehicles by what goes in the tank. A gasser burns ordinary pump gas, which sets it apart from three rivals at once: the diesel, the car running on racing fuel, and the electric vehicle. The racing-fuel contrast shows where the word started, in the hot-rod meaning, before it spread to any gasoline car or truck.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A hot rod made from a car built between the 1930s and mid-1960s, stripped down to save weight and raised on a truck beam axle to distribute weight better when accelerating.

   His prized gasser sat high on its solid front axle, ready for the next run.

   Collectors prize period-correct gassers that still wear their original nose-up stance.

   Note

   Its look is the point. The truck beam axle lifts the nose, so when the car launches, weight moves toward the rear and the driving wheels grip better. Stripping out extraneous weight serves the same goal. The base cars come from a fixed era, the 1930s to the mid-1960s, which is why builders and collectors care about a period-correct gasser. The word later widened into the everyday fuel sense.

5. 5
   adjectiveslang

   Comparative form of gas. Rare slang.

   A gasser night than oxygen [recte Oxegen] 🐮 #ASolidAgCrew #AMess

   2015, Kate Carr, Photo comment Instagram

   This picture makes me miss seeing my friends every single day and thinking were [sic] gasser than we are ️♥ ♥ muchos lovos galpals

   2015, "ni_ni_niamh", Photo comment Instagram

   Note

   The comparative of gas in its slang sense of fun, amusing or excellent, formed with -er like any short adjective. It is rare, and "more gas" is the usual way to say it. Grammar separates it from the "great fun" noun spelled the same way. In "gasser than," or before a noun as in "a gasser night," it is the adjective. In "a gasser" standing alone, it is the noun.

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