gas

Gas-fired power stations have largely replaced coal-burning ones.

(uncountable, physical chemistry) Matter in an intermediate state between liquid and plasma that can be contained only if it is fully surrounded by a solid (or in a bubble of liquid, or held together by gravitational pull); it can condense into a liquid, or can (rarely) become a solid directly by deposition.

(uncountable) A flammable gaseous hydrocarbon or hydrocarbon mixture used as a fuel, e.g. for cooking, heating, electricity generation or as a fuel in internal combustion engines in vehicles, especially natural gas.

The artillery fired gas shells into the enemy trenches.

A lot of gas had escaped from the cylinder.

Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.

2013 July–August, Lee S. Langston, “The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, in American Scientist, archived from the original on 2013-09-07:

The atmosphere is made up of a number of different gases.

(countable, physical chemistry) A chemical element or compound in such a state.

She turned the gas on, put the potatoes on, then lit the oven.

My tummy hurts so bad – I have gas.

But anyone with that many large brown birds aroost in his cranium and that much gas in his bottom was clearly not a well person.

2008, Nicholas Drayson, A Guide to the Birds of East Africa, page 72:

(uncountable) Methane or other waste gases trapped in one's belly as a result of the digestive process; flatus.

(business, often attributive) The supply of natural gas, as a utility.

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 May, Gloria Steinem, “A Bunny's Tale”, in Show Magazine, archived from the original on 2017-10-04:

No it really doesn't matter at all / Life's a gas / I hope it's going to last

1971, Marc Bolan, “Life's a Gas”, in Electric Warrior, performed by T. Rex:

Money, it's a gas. Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.

1973 March 1, “Money” (track 6), in The Dark Side of the Moon, performed by Pink Floyd:

Once I had a love and it was a gas / Soon turned out had a heart of glass

1978, “Heart of Glass”, in Parallel Lines, performed by Blondie:

Be a man, Be a man / Belsen was a gas / Be a man, kill someone

1979, “Belsen Was a Gas”, in The Great Rock ‛n’ Roll Swindle, performed by Sex Pistols:

One two! I was born in a cross-fire hurricane. And I howled at the maw in the drivin' rain. But it's all right now, in fact, it's a gas. But it's all right. I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash. It's a gas, gas, gas.

2011 October 11, “Jumping Jack Flash (Live 1973)” (track 14), in Brussels Affair (Live 1973), performed by The Rolling Stones:

(slang, dated) A humorous or entertaining event, person, or thing.

Bang, little boy, stop with the gas / Little T, man he chats up his ass

2017 July 1, “About That”, performed by Soph Aspin and Millie B:

(slang) Frothy or boastful talk; chatter.

The closer threw him nothing but gas.

(medicine, colloquial) Arterial or venous blood gas.

en-noun

gas (countable and uncountable, plural gases or gasses)

gas

(uncountable, chemistry) state of matter

بخار خفی (buxār xafî, literally “hidden steam”)

газ

(countable, chemistry) chemical element or compound

газ

(uncountable) flammable gaseous hydrocarbon or hydrocarbon mixture

Borrowed from Dutch gas, coined by chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont in Ortus Medicinae. Derived from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos, “chasm, void, empty space”); perhaps also inspired by geest (“breath, vapour, spirit”). Doublet of chaos. First attested in 1648.

der

New York City, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore


gas

The Nazis gassed millions of Jews during the Holocaust.

He never fully recovered after he was gassed on the Western Front.

(transitive) To attack or kill with poison gas.

"He's been waiting to jump my brain-bones since I left R&E. I could feel him hammering on the door." She trotted to the nearest wall and knocked on it for emphasis. "But whatever it is that makes us remember the good old days, it also makes us impossible to possess now. That's why Willie and I both woke up, and why Noè never got taken out by Mukami. So all I had to do was open my mind up to the guy, invite him in, then... gas the foyer, as it were."

2023 October 14, HarryBlank, “Face Time”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 2024-05-23:

(transitive) To use poison gas in (a volume or area) to attack or kill someone or something.

[…] (it was the town's humour to be always gassing of phantom investors who were likely to come any moment and pay a thousand prices for everything) — “[…] Them rich fellers, they don't make no bad breaks with their money. […]”

1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock:

"Well don't keep on gassing about it," said Digory.

1955, C. S. Lewis, chapter 3, in The Magician's Nephew, Collins, published 1998:

(intransitive, slang) To talk in a boastful or vapid way; to chatter.

I went shop and the boss man said "Don't pay me it's fine" and I said ...(whaaat): "You ain't gotta gas, I'm gas fam" ( don't gas me), "You ain't gotta gas, I'm gas fam".

2018 September 14, “Don't Gas Me” (track 1), in Don't Gas Me, performed by Dizzy Rascal:

(transitive, slang) To impose upon by talking boastfully.

The battery cell was gassing.

to gas lime with chlorine in the manufacture of bleaching powder

to gas thread

(transitive) To singe, as in a gas flame, so as to remove loose fibers.

en-verb

gas (third-person singular simple present gasses or gases, present participle gassing, simple past and past participle gassed)

gasses (present singular third-person)
gases (present singular third-person)
gassing (participle present)
gassed (participle past)
gassed (past)


gas

(uncountable, Canada, US, New Zealand) Gasoline, a light derivative of petroleum used as fuel.

(uncountable, by extension) Ellipsis of gas pedal; accelerator, throttle.

Coordinate term: Ether

gas fee

Gas is the fuel of Ethereum. Gas is not ether–it's a separate virtual currency with its own exchange rate against ether. Ethereum uses gas to control the amount of resources that transactions can use[…]

2018, Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Gavin Wood, Mastering Ethereum: Building Smart Contracts and DApps, O'Reilly Media, →ISBN:

The average “gas fee” – transaction cost – of an Ethereum transaction is between US$85 and US $156, according to crypto.com data.

2021 November 6, Ben Butler, “Australian banks are opening up to cryptocurrency: what does it mean for you?”, in The Guardian:

(uncountable, cryptocurrencies) An internal virtual currency used in Ethereum to pay for certain operations, such as blockchain transactions.

(slang, uncountable) Marijuana, typically of high quality.

Clipping of gasoline. Slang forms popularized on TikTok by Gen Z.


gas

The cops are coming. Gas it!

(US) To increase the fuel flow to a vehicle's engine in order to accelerate it.

Between 0945 and 1020 six definite explosions were reported in the hangar. Explosions at 0945 and 1006 were described as minor while those at 1002, 1003 and 1005 were classed as major explosions and the explosion at 1020 was described as a heavy explosion but less severe than some previous ones. The cause of these explosions was not reported and can only be estimated from the damage sustained by the ship and the known condition of loading. Each of the six torpedo planes spotted in the hangar was armed with one Mark 13, torpex-loaded torpedo and was fully gassed, including auxiliary wing tanks. Explosions in the hangar therefore might have been either detonations of torpedoes or gasoline vapor explosions.

1947 October 30, Bureau of Ships, “SECTION III - DISCUSSION”, in U.S.S. Princeton (CVL23): Loss in Action, Battle for Leyte Gulf, 24 October 1944, United States Hydrographic Office, archived from the original on 2024-06-25, B. Fires and Explosions in Hangar., page 8:

(transitive or reflexive) To die through the inhalation of a gas.

(US) To fill (a vehicle's fuel tank) with fuel.

давам газ

give a vehicle more fuel in order to accelerate


gas

This food is gas.

en-adj

gas (comparative gasser, superlative gassest)

gasser (comparative)
gassest (superlative)


gas

Mary's new boyfriend is a gas man.

It was gas when the bird flew into the classroom.

The other models were gas fun, though they were all a bit hoity-toity.

2016, Liz Nugent, Lying In Wait, →ISBN, page 113:

Compare the slang usage of "a gas", above.