请输入您要查询的英文单词：

　

单词 gas
释义

gasn.1adj.

Brit. /ɡas/, U.S. /ɡæs/
Inflections: Plural gases /ˈɡæsɪz/;
Forms: 1600s– gas, 1600s– gass (now nonstandard), 1700s–1800s gaz.
Origin: A borrowing from Dutch. Etymon: Dutch gas.
Etymology: < Dutch gas (1648), coined (in sense A. 1) by the Flemish chemist, physician, and natural philosopher J. B. van Helmont (1577–1644; first attested in the posthumously published Ortus Medicinæ (1648) 73/1), apparently as an alteration or adaptation of post-classical Latin chaos or its etymon ancient Greek χάος chaos n. (compare Ortus Medicinæ, ed. 1652, p. 59 a: ‘halitum illum Gas vocavi, non longe a Chao veterum secretum’, ‘I have called this vapour gas, not far removed from the Chaos of the ancients’: compare quot. 1662 at sense A. 1), the fricative quality of Dutch g explaining the substitution for Greek χ . Helmont's choice of this word was probably influenced by the 16th-cent. physician, alchemist, and natural philosopher Paracelsus's use of post-classical Latin chaos to denote the proper element of spirits such as gnomes (see gnome n.2 and compare chaos n. 5), although van Helmont was in many respects critical of Paracelsus. Compare (all ultimately < Dutch) French gaz (1670 in a translation of van Helmont), Italian gas (1683), Swedish gas (1711), German Gas (1796 or earlier), Danish gas (1807), Portuguese gás (1813), Spanish gas (1817).There is probably no foundation in the idea (found from the 18th cent. onwards, e.g. in J. Priestley On Air (1774) Introd. 3) that van Helmont modelled gas on Dutch geest spirit, or any of its cognates (see ghost n.), although for a relatively recent defence of this view see F. Lachman in Mod. Lang. Rev. 48 (1953) 177–8 (Lachman seems to have been unaware of the use of chaos by Paracelsus). See blas n.1 2 for another term coined by van Helmont as part of his system of natural philosophy. With early use in sense A. 2a compare contemporary use of steam n. 5. Quot. 1665 at sense A. 2a apparently shows a post-classical Latin phrase gas sulphureum (compare sulphureous gas in quot. 1669 at sense A. 2a).
A. n.1
I. Senses relating to a physical substance.
1. J. B. van Helmont's name for: water supposedly charged with a vital principle and thought to be contained in all bodies and released upon combustion in the form of extremely rarefied water vapour. Now historical.
ΚΠ
1662 J. Chandler tr. J. B. van Helmont Oriatrike 69 Because the water which is brought into a vapour by cold, is of another condition, than a vapour raised by heat: therefore..for want of a name, I have called that vapour, Gas, being not far severed from the Chaos of the Auntients... Gas is a far more subtile or fine thing than a vapour, mist, or distilled Oylinesses, although as yet, it be many times thicker than Air. But Gas it self, materially taken, is water as yet masked with the Ferment of composed Bodies.
1694 R. Franck Northern Mem. 202 Insomuch, that neither Gass nor Blass, nor any nauseating suffocating Fumes, nor hardly Death it self can snatch them from Scotland.
1743 W. Ellis London & Country Brewer (ed. 2) II. 154 Your Water never is to boil; for Boiling irritates and evaporates the subtile, fine, penetrating Gas or Spirit.
1849 E. C. Otté tr. A. von Humboldt Cosmos II. 728 Van Helmont, who first employed the term gas, distinguished it from atmospheric air, and also, by its non-condensability, from vapours.
1952 E. Farber Evol. Chem. iv. 53 Gas is a spiritus in its subtleness, without mystical connotations.
1982 W. Pagel Joan Baptista Van Helmont iii. 62 Gas is just that water which has been so embossed and ‘signed’ by a semen, and presents itself in a volatile condition.
2.
a. A substance in a state in which it expands freely to fill the whole of a container, having no fixed shape (unlike a solid) and no fixed volume (unlike a liquid); spec. (distinguished from a vapour) such a substance above a critical temperature such that it cannot be liquefied by the application of pressure alone (cf. vapour n. 2a); any substance which normally exists in such a state. Also as a mass noun.Gas is one of the three or (including plasma) four classical states of matter.The forces between the atoms, molecules, or ions of a gas are much weaker than those in a solid or liquid; hence, compared with a solid or liquid, the constituent particles of a gas are widely separated and move about at high speed more or less freely. In an ideal gas, the forces between particles are assumed to be completely negligible. Cf. kinetic theory of gases at kinetic adj. 2a.blood, greenhouse, mephitic, noble, oxygen gas, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > [noun]
pneumatical1626
air1651
gas1669
aeriform1840
the world > matter > chemistry > physical chemistry > gaseous phase > [noun] > gas
steam1662
gas1669
1665 H. Oldenburg Let. 24 Aug. in R. Boyle Corr. (2001) II. 514 I should be very glad, to heare your thoughts concerning the Gas sulphureum, I mentioned formerly to you.]
1669 tr. A. Kircher Vulcano's iii. 10 A most sulphureous Gas.
1788 J. St. John tr. L. B. Guyton de Morveau et al. Method Chym. Nomencl. 60 Converted into the state of gas by caloric.
1793 T. Beddoes Observ. Nature & Cure Calculus 250 The affinity which this mephitic gaz has for oxygene.
1823 Museum of Foreign Lit. 3 98 Upon relieving the pressure by breaking the tube, the condensed chlorine instantly assumes its usual state of gas or vapour.
1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 84 The specific gravities of the three gases which composed the atmosphere.
1916 Pop. Sci. Mar. 442/2 The iron..produced is very hard at first and contains some gas.
1929 Boys' Life Nov. 43/1 Air is circulated to obviate the danger of any inflammable gas or vapor penetrating to the living quarters.
1959 Home Encycl. 286 Yeast is a micro-organism which, when it is given the right conditions, produces a gas to aerate the dough.
1981 P. Davis Edge of Infinity (1983) v. 103 As it slowly spirals inward, the gas will become very hot.
1991 Pop. Sci. Aug. 50/3 Each year, more than 200 people in this country die from poisonous combustion gases, such as carbon monoxide.
2010 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 5 Oct. 27 Champagne is supersaturated with carbon dioxide, which is just itching to convert back into gas from its liquid form.
b. Physics. A system of unbound and mobile subatomic particles which can be approximately described using the kinetic theory of gases. Frequently with distinguishing word denoting the type of particle.electron gas: see the first element.
ΚΠ
1913 Proc. Section Sci. Koninklijke Akad. van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam 16 236 The frequencies in an electron gas with the same order of magnitude of the number of particles per unit of volume, become very much higher than in the ordinary material gases.
1939 J. R. Oppenheimer & G. M. Volkoff in Physical Rev. 55 377/2 For a neutron gas a =1.36×106 cm., b =1.83×1034 g.
1960 Proc. Royal Soc. 1960–61 A. 259 130 Photon and pion gases possess two equations of state.
1981 Nucl. Physics A. 362 507 T is the temperature of the proton gas, and mp is the proton mass.
2006 A. Vilenkin Many Worlds in One (2007) iv. 33 The fireball gets populated with a gas of electrons and positrons having about the same density as the gas of photons.
3. spec.
a. Gas, or a gas, generated within the gastrointestinal tract, typically by bacterial activity; flatus. Cf. flatus n. 2, wind n.1 10a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > digestive disorders > [noun] > flatulence > vapour
steamc1000
fumosityc1386
fumec1400
vapours1422
crudity1541
gas1759
1759 tr. J. Huxham Small Treat. Devonshire Colic 20 in tr. J. Huxham Observ. Air & Epidemic Dis. I The Guts having been torn and split by this incoercible Gas, or Flatus.
1771 W. Cadogan Diss. Gout 47 The act of fermentation, which, being raised in the stomach where it ought never to happen, produces strange tumults, wind, vapour, gas.
1800 Anti-Jacobin Rev. May 117 To rejoice in an air from corruption so free, As the Gas, my good Sirs, just emitted by me.
1882 Quain's Dict. Med. 369/1 All ill-smelling gases and excreta may be, indeed, indicative of the progress of putrefaction lower down in the canal.
1921 J. H. Kellogg Med. Dietetics 521 Gas or flatulence accompanying the stool indicates the presence of the pernicious Welch's bacillus and other gas-forming organisms.
1965 F. Gerrard Macgregor's Struct. Meat Animals (ed. 2) vii. 142 The rumen becomes distended with gas and presses on the diaphragm so interfering with breathing.
1997 C. B. Divakaruni Mistress of Spices 179 I tell you, chana dal will give you gas, better be buying tur instead.
2004 A. Green Beans 19/1 The precise amount and composition of gas produced by a particular person on a particular occasion..depends on many different factors, such as how the food is swallowed, the bacteria present in the intestine, [etc.].
b. The hydrogen, helium, or other light gas used to fill and give buoyancy to a balloon or airship. Also figurative, esp. in early use.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > balloons and airships > [noun] > gas or air container of balloon or airship > gas
gas1784
1784 London Chron. 29 May 327/3 A flexible tube..connected to the bottom of the balloon, by which means the gas was forced up with the hand into it.
1793 M. Cutler Let. 15 Nov. in W. P. Cutler & J. P. Cutler Life, Jrnls. & Corr. M. Cutler (1888) II. 279 His gas is now pretty well expended, and he has descended into universal contempt.
1871 J. Glaisher Trav. in Air ii. 42 The inflation of the balloon was proceeded with, and after three hours about 60,000 feet of gas had passed in.
1931 Pop. Sci. Feb. 61/1 He always followed me home in a wagon to haul the airship home if the gas leaked out.
2004 C. Cussler Black Wind (2006) 484 An automatic venting system would release any excess gas if the pressure rose too high, but Pitt kept the blimp well below its pressure height.
c. Coal Mining. An explosive mixture of firedamp (methane) and air. Now chiefly historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > [noun] > fumes or vapour > explosive gas in mines > fire-damp mixed with air
gas1816
sharp gas1886
1816 J. Ryan Let. Method Ventilating Coal Mines 18 The next coal field..which has thrown its strata fifty yards higher, is entirely free from accumulations of gas.
1871 Indiana (Pa.) Democrat 4 Apr. A man named Ward, a pit boss, working for the West. Coal Co.,..was killed by the explosion of gas.
1902 Legal Rec. Rep. Pennsylvania I. 473 No gas had accumulated in that part of the mine.
1999 S. Williamson Gresford i. 1 He set out on the first of his routine inspections of the district, testing for gas wherever he went.
d. Inhaled nitrous oxide gas used as an anaesthetic or analgesic, esp. in dentistry and obstetrics (now usually in combination with air or oxygen).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > anaesthetic > [noun] > general > specific drugs
common ether1675
laughing gas1819
chloral1838
chloroform1838
urethane1838
ether1847
letheon1847
kerosolene1861
gas1868
pental1891
tubocurarine1898
chloretone1899
hedonal1900
Avertin1927
Evipan1932
Pentothal1935
Trilene1935
hexobarbitone sodium1941
hexobarbitone soluble1941
thiopentone1945
thiopental sodium1947
fluothane1955
halothane1957
methohexital sodium1958
phencyclidine1959
methohexitone1961
hexobarbitone1962
propanidid1964
etorphine1966
enflurane1971
sodium methohexital1978
1868 Lancet 11 Apr. 482/2 Dr. Evans had again administered the gas at the Dental Hospital..on which occasion he had operated on eight patients with the most complete success.
1880 Brit. Jrnl. Dental Sci. 23 1022 I speak from experience, having had teeth extracted without gas.
1918 V. Eliot Let. 21 Nov. in T. S. Eliot Lett. (1988) I. 258 The day before yesterday I had a tooth extracted, with gas.
1935 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 7 Sept. 473/1 Gas and air analgesia in Labour.
1982 Times 14 Oct. 3/2 She was frightened by the needle so he gave her gas as well.
2000 A. May in F. Reynolds Regional Analgesia in Obstetr. xviii. 198 All too often women come to the delivery suite in the early stages of labour, clutching their birth plans, fiercely proclaiming their intention to survive on ‘gas and air’.
e. Any of various substances released in gaseous form with the intent of harming or deterring; esp. = poison gas n. at poison n. Compounds 2a.mustard, nerve, pepper, riot, tear gas, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > fire, radiation, or chemical weapons > [noun] > gas
poison gas1816
gas1897
mustard gas1917
tear-gas1917
yperite1917
mustard1918
phosgene1918
riot gas1930
war gas1934
nausea gas1936
nerve gas1940
tear-smoke1946
Sarin1951
Soman1951
pepper gas1968
stun gas1968
pepper spray1986
1897 Proc. 45th Meeting Amer. Assoc. Advancem. Sci. 406 The stoutest heart quails before a stream of electricity, hot steam, asphyxiating gas or explosives rained from an air ship.
1900 F. M. Colby Internat. Year-bk. 1899 505 The dense fumes of yellowish green gas.., suffocating those who come into contact with it.
1915 Daily Sketch 18 Aug. 6/2 'Ware Gas.
a1918 W. Owen Compl. Poems (1983) I. 140 Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time.
1945 Times 21 June 3/4 There remain 85,000 Jews who..died or were put to death by gas somewhere else.
1987 ABA Jrnl. 1 Jan. 48/1 New York electrocuted its first convict in 1890, and lethal gas was first adopted in 1924 by Nevada.
2010 Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press (Nexis) 18 Jan. a12 The attacks against the Kurdish town of Halabja that killed more than 5,000 people in clouds of poisonous gas.
4.
a. A flammable mixture of methane and other gases used for lighting, heating, or cooking; spec. (a) (in early use) = coal gas n.; (b) = natural gas n. (now the usual sense).oil, water, wood gas, etc.: see the first element.Early experiments in the use of flammable gas for illumination were conducted by John Clayton, rector of Crofton, although he used the term spirit: see Philos. Trans. 1739–40 (Royal Soc.) (1742) 41 59–61. The practical application of such gases to lighting is attributed to William Murdoch (see quot. 1808).
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > fuel > gas or types of gas > [noun]
gas1808
oil-gas1820
wood-gasc1865
town gas1867
fuel-gas1886
power gas1901
bottled gas1930
biogas1958
North Sea gas1965
1808 W. Murdoch in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 98 124 The whole of the rooms of this cotton mill..and the adjacent house of Mr. Lee, are lighted with the gas from coal.
1823 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto XI xxii. 114 Here the lamplighter's infusion Slowly distilled into the glimmering glass, (For in those days we had not got to gas:).
1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 39 As invisible as the air we breathe or the gas we burn.
1900 T. Dreiser Sister Carrie x. 102 The whole place was cosey, in that it was lighted by gas and heated by furnace registers.
1922 Gas Manuf., Distribution & Use (Brit. Commerc. Gas Assoc.) i. 6/2 A proportion of the gas supplied in some towns is made from oil.
1975 Sci. Amer. May 42/1 Offshore drilling for oil and gas.
2003 Independent 27 Dec. i. 16/4 We have heat and hot water, but no gas to cook with.
b. Chiefly with the. A jet or jets of such gas; the supply of gas to a building.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > artificial light defined by light-source > [noun] > gaslight or lamp
gaslight1808
gas lamp1814
gas1817
pronghorn1922
1817 New Monthly Mag. Apr. 243/2 The interior of his house and his garden illumined with carbureted hydrogen gas, which..was conducted to the lamps by small tubes furnished with cocks that could be opened at pleasure to light the gas, or closed to extinguish it.
1826 J. M. Morgan Revolt of Bees iv. 101 He brought from the inner room some coffee, and warmed it over the gas.
1851 E. C. Gaskell Lett. (1966) 147 They acted in the outer lobby, under the gas.
1872 W. Black Strange Adventures Phaeton v. 60 The gases were lit in the spacious coffee-room.
1893 Rep. Proc. 1892 (Associations of Gas Engineers & Managers) 107 What I am particularly anxious to have discussed is the initial question of getting gas installed in small houses.
1902 Amer. Kitchen Mag. Jan. 157/2 Dip them in melted butter, and broil under the gas.
1940 M. Sadleir Fanny by Gaslight ii. 311 The curtains were undrawn and the daylight dim... She rang for the curtains to be drawn and the gas lit.
1977 T. Tiller Tight Spot i. 53 I told the utilities company to send a man today to cut off the gas and electricity.
2001 Guardian 26 Jan. 22/1 We fear that he is liable at any time to forget that he left the gas on and thus blow up his house.
II. Figurative uses.
5. colloquial. Empty or boastful talk; bombast, ‘hot air’; nonsense. Cf. wind n.1 15a, gasbag n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > insincere or pretentious talk > [noun]
flash1605
sniffling1653
canting1659
cant1710
galbanum1764
gas1793
blarney1796
gammon1805
slum1812
claptrap1819
flam1825
glittering generality1849
bull's wool1850
eyewash1857
bunkum1862
hot air1873
kid1874
fustian1880
flubdub1888
bull1914
oil1917
blah1918
drip1919
piss and wind1922
banana-oil1927
flannel1927
crud1943
old talk1956
ole talk1964
okey-doke1969
yada yada1991
1793 G. Morris Let. 22 Sept. in J. Sparks Life G. Morris (1832) II. 355 The immense amount raised by political gas, could not but bring down with it the supporting balloons.
1845 J. Hooker in M. Allan & M. Joseph Hookers of Kew (1967) 110 Spout an hour of gas, without notes even.
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits xiii. 230 Lord Shaftesbury calls the poor thieves together, and reads sermons to them, and they call it ‘gas’.
1908 Rosary Mag. July 23/2 ‘Never bought an oil painting in my life,’ growled the corporation counsel, ‘and it's all gas about my “palatial mansion”.’
1976 Scotsman 24 Dec. (Weekend Suppl.) 1/3 I'll give this young pup a guid lammin' if I get any more o' his gas.
1985 L. Rice Angels all over Town 89 Ahh, don't listen to Joe. He's full of gas.
6. slang.
a. Irish English. Enjoyment, amusement, fun.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > frolicking or romping > [noun] > a frolic
oliprancec1390
ragerya1393
vague1523
rex1566
friskin1570
gambol1573
reak1573
prank1576
vagary1588
whirligig1589
caper1592
prinkum-prankum1596
firk1611
frolica1635
carryings-on1663
ramp1696
romp1713
freak1724
scheme1758
rig1782
lark1811
escapade1814
gammock1819
gambade1821
enfantillage1827
game1828
shines1830
rollick1834
rusty1835
high jinksa1845
escapado1849
shenanigan1855
rum-tum1876
panta1901
gas1914
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > [noun] > jest or pleasantry > a jest or joke
gameOE
jape1377
bourda1387
mirthc1390
mowa1393
chapec1400
skauncec1440
sport?1449
popc1540
flirt1549
jest1551
merriment1576
shifta1577
facetiae1577
gig1590
pleasantry1594
lepidity1647
rallery1653
drollery1654
wit-crack1662
joco1663
pleasance1668
joke1670
jocunditya1734
quizzification1801
funniment1826
side-splitter1834
funniness1838
quizzery1841
jocularity1846
rib-tickler1855
jocosity1859
humorism1860
gag1863
gas1914
nifty1918
mirthquaker1921
rib1929
boffo1934
giggle1936
1914 J. Joyce Dubliners 24 He told me he had brought it [sc. a catapult] to have some gas with the birds. Mahony used slang freely.
1958 B. Behan Borstal Boy ii. 178 Someone was imitating my accent, and getting great gas out of it.
1962 E. O'Brien Lonely Girl ii. 20 ‘Let's do it for gas,’ Baba said.
1980 ‘H. Leonard’ Life ii. 75 Well at least Lar is a bit of gas. I can laugh with him.
2003 M. McInerney Spin Bottle i. 12 She's been doing it for years. Says it's great gas altogether, gets her out of the house as well.
b. Originally U.S. A first-rate, amusing, or entertaining person or thing; a lot of fun. Cf. sense B. 2, gasser n.1 3.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > excitement > pleasurable excitement > [noun] > thrill of > thing or person causing
hot sketch1917
gasser1944
gas1957
1957 J. Baldwin in Partisan Rev. iii. 357 Brand-new pianos certainly were a gas.
1963 Guardian 5 July 11/3 You can listen to his old records now and they are still a gas.
1971 Frendz 21 May 16/1 The Stones..were a screaming, speeding, sexy gas.
1980 Billboard 4 Oct. 66/3 Freddie Hubbard was warm and gracious and comical and a total gas.
1990 P. Auster Music of Chance iv. 76 ‘I'm looking forward to it immensely.’ ‘Me too, Bill,’ Pozzi said. ‘It's going to be a gas.’
2009 N. Green Last Gig xix. 257 It'll be a gas. I'll call you, okay?
B. adj.
1. Powered by gas as a fuel, operating by means of gas; (also) used for measuring or producing a fuel gas. See also Compounds 1b, and many of the compounds at Compounds 3. For gas engine, fire, light, lighting, motor, oven, plant, and gasworks, see the main entries.
ΚΠ
1806 Morning Chron. 28 July (advt.) A general introduction of economical gas light [later issues: lights].
1840 Amer. Jrnl. Pharmacy 12 124 The residue of the liquid after evaporating to dryness in a platinum crucible..was ignited to redness in a gas furnace.
1882 Cent. Mag. May 156/1 As such fire-places are made on the principle of the gas retort, they may be called coking stoves.
1922 Gas Manuf., Distribution & Use (Brit. Commerc. Gas Assoc.) ii. 47/2 The gas water heater in the picture will be seen on the left, and the gas cooker on the right.
1936 E. A. Atkins & A. G. Walker Electr. Arc & Oxy-acetylene Welding (ed. 3) ii. 15 One great advantage of arc welding over gas welding is that the heat is more localized.
1976 Leicester Mercury 16 July 1/1 (advt.) Cooker required, must be gas and in good condition, can collect.
2007 C. MacFarlane Real Gorbals Story (2009) xi. 95 The Corporation employed lamplighters who went into the closes every night with a lit gas torch to illuminate the lamps.
2. slang. Very amusing, funny; fun, exciting; great, excellent. Cf. sense A. 6.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > [adjective] > comical
merryc1390
pleasant1553
comical1575
mowsome1596
zany1616
burlesque1656
humoursome1656
farce-like1681
foolish1691
farcical1715
amusive1727
farciful1731
funny1739
farcic1763
quizzical1785
quizzy1785
quizzish1792
rib-tickling1809
smileable1830
cocasse1868
priceless1907
skit1914
funny-ha-ha1916
gas1955
1955 J. P. Donleavy Ginger Man xvi. 179 ‘Sebastian is a funny name.’ ‘Venerable.’ ‘What?’ ‘That's what it means. Deserving of honor and respect.’ ‘You're funny.’ ‘Eeeee and eeeee and eak.’ ‘You're a gas man.’
1964 ‘J. Welcome’ Hard to Handle vii. 79 I'm bound to say I thought it rather gas at the time.
1967 Surfabout (Sydney) 4 32/1 Your magazine is very interesting and I think all the surfing pictures and notes are gas.
1973 E. Jolley in D. Hewett Sandgropers 141 The Motel was really gas! There was so much hot water Mother washed out all our clothes and we both washed our hair again.
1981 G. Westwood Dangerous to Love vii. 110 Did I wake you? I've been having a gas time.
1991 R. Doyle Van (1993) 62 He laughed like he was dying of it; it was hurting him but it was fuckin' great... He was some tulip, Bertie; he was fuckin' gas.
2002 B. FitzGibbon tr. H. Helgason 101 Reykjavik 31 It was a gas time. They played some fun songs, you know, from the disco days.

Phrases

P1. slang. Phrases with gaiters.
a. all (also everything) is gas and gaiters: everything is satisfactory; all is well.In quot. 1839 part of an extended comic passage in which the speaker, who is supposed to be of unsound mind, makes a series of nonsensical statements (requesting ‘bottled lightning’, ‘a thunder sandwich’, and ‘a fricassee of boot-tops and goldfish sauce’, among other things); subsequently taken up more generally from this passage in Dickens.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > [phrase]
to rightsc1330
all (also everything) is gas and gaiters1839
(as) nice (also good, sweet, etc.) as pie1855
(as) right as rain1891
everything in the garden is lovely (also rosy)1898
she'll be right1947
1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby xlix. 489 She is come at last—at last—and all is gas and gaiters!
1880 Daily Arkansas Gaz. (Little Rock, Arkansas) 31 Aug. 6/2 The south will be paid for its slaves, the confederate debt will be assumed, confederate soldiers will be pensioned and all will be gas and gaiters.
1925 A. Christie Secret of Chimneys xiii. 124 I've only got to get hold of dear old Stylptitch's Reminiscences..and all will be gas and gaiters.
1947 P. G. Wodehouse Joy in Morning xvi. 130 She said she was sorry she had been cross. I said ‘There, there!’ and everything is once more gas and gaiters.
2008 School Libr. Jrnl. Rev. (Nexis) 1 Aug. 99 Gentle messages abound, and all is gas and gaiters at the finish, with the constantly jeering Blue-Tongued Skink getting his comeuppance.
b. gas and gaiters: pompousness, verbosity. Cf. sense A. 5. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [noun] > pomposity
stiltedness1828
pomposity1841
gas and gaiters1856
pompousness1870
1856 Argus (Melbourne) 2 Aug. 5/7 ‘Austral’ may vent his virtuous indignation on pagan immigrants..but it is all vox et præterea nihil—colonially translated, ‘gas and gaiters’.
1895 Rev. of Rev. May 599/2 We get the notion that the dramatist's taste and ability for scientific research, which have obtained such solemn acknowledgment in Le Temps and the Revue des Revues, are so much ‘gas and gaiters’.
1923 A. C. Benson Trefoil iii. 26 My father was profoundly irritated by him, and..said something..about ‘gas and gaiters’ which seemed to us a harsh description of so pretty a man.
1968 H. Hill Let. 8 Jan. in J. S. Smith Spy in Bookshop (2006) 70 I must anyway stop gassing, especially knowing how much gas and gaiters you have to endure.
P2. colloquial (chiefly U.S.) to give (a person) gas and variants: to subject (a person) to ridicule or abuse; to taunt or tease (a person).
ΚΠ
1860 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang (ed. 2) Gas, ‘To give a person gas’, to scold him or give him a good beating.
1949 N. Algren Man with Golden Arm i. 81 It's just since you come back you're givin' me gas, Frankie. You never used to give me gas before.
1972 G. V. Higgins Friends Eddie Coyle xi. 71 I'm giving him a little gas, you know, one thing and another.
2001 M. M. Waldrop Dream Machine 382 I was always giving him gas for the unreliability of his prototypes.
P3.
gas and air n. Medicine a mixture of nitrous oxide gas and air or oxygen, administered by inhalation to provide pain relief, esp. during labour.Frequently as a modifier.
ΚΠ
1934 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 19 May 914/1 In twenty-seven of the cases the gas-and-air was given only for the second stage of labour.
1959 Woman 16 May 23/2 An officious nurse plonked down a gas and air mask on my face.
1993 F. Weldon Trouble 175 I don't want to hold my birth partner's hand, I want gas-and-air and an epidural and a nurse I've never met.
2010 D. Devonshire Wait for Me! x. 139 For this last confinement, Dr Evans had borrowed a contraption called a gas and air machine, used as an analgesic in childbirth.
P4. to cook with gas: see cook v.1 Phrases 3.
P5. to take gas.
a. U.S. colloquial. To be the subject of ridicule or abuse.
ΚΠ
1959 H. Searls Big X ii. iii. 131 The White House is on the phone and Congress goes into special session and the aircraft company declares bankruptcy, and everybody's taking gas when the president calls in the little engineer.
1977 Black Belt Apr. 82/3 I took a lot of gas on it but everything I pointed out then is accepted throughout the world. They don't laugh now.
1981 G. Wolf Who censored Roger Rabbit xxxiii 176 I try and save this dopey rabbit some grief, and I take gas for it.
2001 J. Scalzo Amer. Dirt Track Racer 125/2 Poor Rutt, forever taking gas for something—merely stated that he was quitting racing because he believed speeds were too high.
b. Surfing slang. To be thrown from a surfboard by a wave; to ‘wipe out’.
ΚΠ
1963 Time 9 Aug. 49/2 To ‘take gas’ or ‘wipe out’ is to lose a board in the curl of a wave.
1969 P. L. Dixon Men who ride Mountains vii. 100 I guess I rode all right, only took gas once, but that was enough.
1990 B. Jenkins N. Shore Chrons. 61 Foo first surfed Waimea in 1977. He remembers taking horrendous gas on his first wave when Shaun Tomson dropped in on him.
2007 S. Pike Surfing S. Afr. iv. 73/1 The pros were astounded at the power of the Outer Kom, with some competitors undergunned and taking gas in the hard-breaking 12- to 15-foot lefthanders.

Compounds

C1.
a. General attributive (in senses A. 2a and A. 4).Some of the more established compounds of this type are treated separately.
ΚΠ
1835 London Jrnl. Arts & Sci. 6 165 Common gas valves usually applied to gas mains.
1844 Provinc. Med. Jrnl. 7 474/2 When dining in a room imperfectly ventilated and not protected from the gas vapours.
1850 Huddersfield Chron. 25 May 4/4 The net profits arising from gas consumption.
1884 Electr. World 22 Mar. 92/2 If the electric light were excluded from the city, gas prices would soon go back to the old figure.
1896 B. Donkin Gas, Oil, & Air Engines xxvii. 386 In gas tramcars from 6 to 10 reservoirs for the compressed gas are required.
1912 Electr. Rev. 27 Jan. 180/1 Winning over gas customers to tungsten lamps and installations of that kind.
1932 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 15 Nov. 4/3 Six children and their mother were overcome by gas fumes escaping from a hot water heater in the kitchen of their home.
1959 Pop. Sci. Jan. 14 Radically new gas appliances in design stage include portable plug-in burners, coffee makers, and frypans.
1965 New Scientist 22 Apr. 215/3 Help the gas industry to meet the increasing heat demands of Britain.
1979 Ebony June 100 (advt.) Stops your gas bills from swinging with the seasons..high in winter, low in summer... Join now and we'll estimate your gas costs for the next year, then divide by 12.
1983 Changing Times Aug. 55/2 The dramatic increase of gas prices during the last decade at more than twice the rate of electricity.
2006 Express (Nexis) 18 Feb. 24 British Gas threatens to break into the flat and turn off the gas supply unless the account..is paid forthwith.
b.
gas bubble n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > gas or air in liquid or effervescence > [noun] > a) bubble(s)
scuma1250
boilounc1320
bubblea1350
burblec1350
blubberc1440
bell1483
blobc1540
bull1561
bleb1647
blab1656
air bubble1756
air-bell1806
gas bubble1809
sprot1846
mousse1863
1809 ‘D. Blair’ Gram. Chem. 20 The empty space left by the bursting or exploding of the gas bubble.
1905 T. C. Chamberlin & R. D. Salisbury Geol. I. 580 The larger portion of the lava blown into the air by the expanding gas-bubbles falls back in the immediate vicinity of the vent.
2008 Women's Health Apr. 18/2 The sound you hear is from stretching the joint, which..causes gas bubbles to pop.
gas deposit n.
ΚΠ
1866 Mexican Times 24 Mar. 3/7 A fire originating in the gas deposit calle[d] San Agustin.
1939 Montana: State Guide Bk. (Federal Writers' Project) i. 30 The gas deposit of the Cedar Creek anticline in Fallon and Dawson Counties is one of the largest in the Northwest.
2005 BusinessWeek 2 May 79/1 In oil-patch parlance, it was an ‘unconventional’ field—its gas deposits were tough to gather, trapped in layers of rock, sand, silt, and coal.
gas flame n.
ΚΠ
1807 Morning Post 21 Jan. Lord Minto..seemed much gratified by the Gas Flame serving for light and culinary purposes.
1891 R. Routledge Discov. & Inventions 19th Cent. (ed. 8) 328 All these effects may be seen to greater advantage by using the gas-flame of a Bunsen's burner.
1997 Old-house Jrnl. Nov. 49/2 Combined with a gas flame, the effect is a lot like a wood-burning fireplace.
gas hob n.
ΚΠ
1878 Lancet 28 Sept. 451/1 The kitchens are supplied with proper hospital cooking-ranges, having gas hobs for occasional use.
1965 Times 23 Oct. 11/6 This year the first British-made standard cooker with gas hob and electric oven came on the market.
2005 R. Rendell End in Tears (2007) 179 He went downstairs, put a saucepan of water on the gas hob, two teabags in cups, and lit the gas.
gas jet n.
ΚΠ
1826 Morning Post 16 Mar. 3/4 By this contrivance a gas jet may be carried round the wall of a library, for instance, to read the titles of the books.
1907 E. Wharton Fruit of Tree i. iii. 32 The numerous gas-jets..shed their lights..on Carrara busts and bronze Indians.
2001 G. Null Get Healthy Now! xx. 246 People who can't get out of the house because they've got to make sure the light switches are off or the gas jet isn't on.
gas leak n.
ΚΠ
1857 Charleston (S. Carolina) Daily Courier 6 Nov. 2/1 A troublesome gas leak.
1952 Changing Times Nov. 30 Everybody warns you not to hunt for a suspected gas leak with a match.
2001 S. R. Rajan in N. L. Peluso & M. Watts Violent Environments xvi. 390 In Bhopal, the people most exposed to the gas leak were those who were economically and politically marginal.
gas pipeline n.
ΚΠ
1875 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Daily Sentinel 4 Nov. 3/2 The gas-pipe line about being completed to this city.
1949 Bull. Atomic Scientists Mar. 89/2 Secure steel for a gas pipe line to Oak Ridge.
2001 Boys' Life Mar. 43/1 On the ground 1,000 feet below, flames from a ruptured gas pipeline shoot high into the air.
gas reserve n.
ΚΠ
1899 Glasgow Herald 28 Dec. 2/5 Is there any insuperable difficulty in attaining a gas reserve for contingencies?
1951 Pop. Sci. Nov. 166/1 The prospect of tapping the gas reserves that lie under the open waters of the Gulf.
2010 S. Peterson Let Swords Encircle Me i. 29 Backed by huge oil deposits and the second-largest gas reserves in the world, Iran spreads ‘soft power’ across the region.
c. Instrumental.
gas-charged adj.
ΚΠ
1855 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. Nov. 305 Both water and gas being cooled..to an extent sufficient to cause their re-combination in the original form of gas-charged water.
1896 Daily News 1 May 2/1 It is feared..that none of the men will have survived their long imprisonment in the gas-charged workings.
1985 Dirt Bike Mar. 13/1 The cartridge is gas-charged, sealed and externally adjustable.
gas-driven adj.
ΚΠ
1882 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 17 Mar. 472/2 It is of the utmost importance that, in foggy weather, we should be able to put a powerful sound-signal into full blast at a moment's notice, and this is what can be done with the gas-driven siren.
a1918 W. Owen Coll. Poems (1963) 95 Gas-driven busses.
1999 Discover Mar. 38/3 A two-inch wide rod with a pressurized gas-driven hammer that burrows eagerly underground.
gas-fed adj.
ΚΠ
1889 Atchison (Kansas) Daily Champion 23 Jan. 7/2 No one outside of these two gas fed cities can tell how big a fire a small spark can kindle.
1929 Pop. Mech. 29 Mar. 434/1 The roar of gas-fed flames.
2006 Mail on Sunday (Nexis) 19 Nov. (Property section) 30 Thinking of a glowing fire, and you tend to picture coals crackling in a grate, or perhaps a gas-fed version.
gas-filled adj.
ΚΠ
1833 N.-Y. Mirror 22 June 405/3 It will be quite common to make a voyage to and through the north pole, along the axis of the earth out of the hole south, off by aid of a gas-filled conductor through the clouds to the moon.
1907 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 55 596/2 Gas-filled airships have lately been so improved.
1971 F. Raphael Who were you with Last Night? 113 She's slowly turning blue in a gas-filled room.
2001 Independent. 15 Jan. (Media Plus section) 2/7 Today's lamps, with their gas-filled bulbs and coiled filaments are designed to last for about 1,000 hours.
gas-heated adj.
ΚΠ
1845 Penny Cycl. Suppl. I. 221/1 The dies..are warmed in a gas-heated stove.
1911 J. Masefield Street of To-day ii. vi. 298 Lionel rented a little gas-heated room for him close to the main office.
2002 M. Kurlansky Salt (2003) xxiii. 375 The brine was piped to gas-heated pans in the boiling house.
gas-laden adj.
ΚΠ
1844 Era 10 Mar. 8/1 Female votaries..who flutter forth from their boudoirs to inhale the bouquet-scented and gas-laden atmosphere.
1923 Pop. Mech. Nov. 757/2 The best way to protect them from hot, choking smoke and damp, gas-laden air.
2007 Icarus 208 289 (caption) The pristine ice that formed from the solar nebula is gas-laden, amorphous ice.
gas-propelled adj.
ΚΠ
1873 Sci. Amer. 14 June 368/3 (heading) A gas-propelled boat.
1913 Machinery Jan. 359/1 A novel type of gas-propelled water turbine... By permitting gas to explode in each chamber alternately, the water is caused to pass through the turbine.
2010 D. Lowe Transport Manager's & Operator's Handbk. 2010 xiii. 369 The regulations permit the use of LPG only in gas-propelled vehicles.
gas-rich adj.
ΚΠ
1899 Science 10 Mar. 359/1 If allowed to remain for some time in the gas-rich atmosphere the gauze becomes heated to the ignition point of the gas.
1959 Jrnl. Geol. (Chicago) 67 497/2 The rise of basic, alkaline, gas-rich magma into the crust.
2005 J. Silk On Shores of Unknown ix. 164 Gas-rich galaxy disks in their earliest stages of contraction.
d. Objective.
gas-delivering adj.
ΚΠ
1838 J. J. Griffin Chem. Recreations (ed. 8) 229 The wide mouth of the bottle is then closed, and the gas delivering tube is passed down.
1957 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 25 May 1210/2 The spectrometer can prove very useful in..checking the calibration of gas-delivering equipment.
2005 Neurosci. Lett. 385 150/2 A gas-delivering cannula passed through the hole, leaving just enough space for gas to escape.
gas-making n.
ΚΠ
1817 York Herald 24 May An establishment..where gas-making was the main object.
1909 Pop. Mech. Dec. 149a/2 (advt.) Automatic gas making machine supplying all cottages with gas for lighting and cooking.
2003 Augusta (Georgia) Chron. (Nexis) 5 Nov. b5 A multiyear project to clean up soil at former gas-making sites across the state is nearing completion.
gas-producing adj.
ΚΠ
1808 J. Cuthbertson in Ann. Rev. 6 810 When water is to be decomposed by galvanism..both the gas producing wires must be connected to their respective ends of the trough.
1909 L. Pearson tr. C. O. Jensen Essent. Milk Hygiene 252 Very bad milks will betray the presence of gas-producing bacteria by the spongy texture of the curd.
2008 Outlook Business 3 May 52/3 Gas-producing countries are dispersed across the globe—from Russia to Bangladesh.
gas tester n.
ΚΠ
1855 Sheffield & Rotherham Independent 4 Aug. 8/3 The appointment of nominee directors, an auditor, a gas tester, and an inspector of meters.
1919 E. Janis Big Show vii. 127 My idea of a rotten job is a ‘gas tester’. He dresses all up in a gas mask, which in itself is always good for a laugh.
2010 Lincs. Echo (Nexis) 12 Aug. 4 Thieves broke into the VW Transporter van and stole a gas tester and a tool box.
gas testing n.
ΚΠ
1860 Eastern Times & Tower Hamlets Gaz. 10 Nov. 32 The Chartered Gas Company, proposing to place their experimental burner for gas testing at their station in John's street.
1914 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. 178 354 This circular contains suggestions as to location and equipment of gas-testing laboratories.
2008 House Builders Health & Safety Man. §8C. 6/2 This may initially require gas testing with a stain tube detector or some other suitable testing device.
gas-yielding adj.
ΚΠ
1816 J. H. H. Holmes Treat. Coal Mines Durham & Northumberland v. 31 There is much difference in the appearance of gas-yielding coal.
1910 H. P. Tiemann Iron & Steel 130 The combustion of gas-yielding substances.
2010 York (Pa.) Disp. (Nexis) 14 Sept. The states with gas-yielding shale formations.
C2.
a. attributive in sense A. 3e; spec. with reference to the use of gas by the Nazis to murder large numbers of people during the Second World War (1939–45) (cf. also gas chamber n. 2).
ΚΠ
1915 Times 8 May 4/4 Two gas victims. Among the officers whose death is announced in our obituary columns..are the following, who are reported to have lost their lives as the result of the use of poisoning gas by the Germans.
1921 L. L. Bucklew ‘Orphan Battery’ & Operations 42 Maj. Rumsey suffering from gas burns, was evacuated to the hospital.
1939 Life 25 Sept. 99/1 (caption) Indoors are gas victims who for 25 years have been coughing themselves to death.
1945 Joplin (Missouri) Globe 10 July 2/4 The gas room where thousands went to death resembled a shower room with sprays on the ceiling.
1953 Winnipeg Free Press 13 Nov. 12/4 A shot of the ‘gas showers’ of the mass execution chambers at Auschwitz.
1963 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 11 Aug. fl7/5 His folks, he said, had all been killed in the Nazi gas camps.
1987 Orange Coast Dec. 134/3 These are the kind of people, like the Nazis, who put people in the gas showers.
1995 Z. Solomon Coping with War-induced Stress i. 4 The pictures of Saddam's gas victims told of its immediate power.
2002 Daily Mail (Nexis) 19 Jan. 44 Construction began on the Chelmno gas camp and the Belzec death camp in Poland.
b.
gas alert n.
ΚΠ
1916 R. H. Vernède Let. 29 Jan. (1917) 44 I had a hot bath yesterday.., and just as I was getting in, a gas alert or alarm sounded and all the gas helmets had to be inspected.
1991 Observer 20 Jan. 49/6 Last week in Israel four people died in the gas alert, suffocated by their masks.
gas attack n.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > attack > [noun] > other types of attack
gas attack1915
strafing1917
cloud-attack1918
pistolade2002
1915 Manch. Guardian 1 May 9/6 The line that had been held by the Allies at five o'clock (when the German gas attack on the French opened).
1971 Daily Tel. 13 Sept. 1/5 Hundreds of New York State police prepared last night for a gas attack on 1,000 rebellious prisoners holding 38 hostages at Attica prison.
2003 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 21 Mar. i. 2/3 They advance on Basra, worried about gas attacks.
gas bombardment n.
ΚΠ
1915 Hartford (Connecticut) Courant 13 July 1/1 (headline) Cemetery captured from French..after gas bombardment followed by hand-to-hand fighting with bomb and bayonet.
1920 G. K. Rose 2/4th Oxf. & Bucks Light Infantry 203 Throughout the night of August 7/8..a heavy gas-bombardment was kept up.
2006 Daily Tel. (Austral.) (Nexis) 25 Aug. 29 He found the bodies of his brother, nephew and sister-in-law outside their home after a 1988 gas bombardment of the village of Ikmala.
gas warfare n.
ΚΠ
1915 Chicago Tribune 6 May 2/6 (headline) Gas warfare of Germans futile, British assert.
1916 W. Owen Let. Aug. (1967) 402 I am now as well up in Gas Warfare as can be.
2010 C. W. Henderson Understanding Internat. Law vii. 198 In addition to the gas attacks of the First World War, Egyptian troops used gas warfare in Yemen in the 1960s.
C3.
gas amplification n. Physics the process or phenomenon whereby, in a strong electric field, an ion produced in a gas by ionizing radiation is able to produce further ions, often used for producing a detectable current in a radiation counter; (also) the factor by which the total ionization is increased by this process.
ΚΠ
1931 Jrnl. Amer. Soc. Naval Engineers 43 271 The electrons, in traveling from the cathode to the anode, collide with the atoms of the inert gas introduced in the tube and liberate from the atoms additional electrons which are also attracted to the anode. In going to the anode these electrons collide with other atoms releasing additional electrons... This phenomenon is called gas amplification.
1978 Radiation Res. 73 7 The maximum usable gas amplification is found to be about 3 × 103, using the propane mixture.
2006 R. A. Powsner & E. R. Powsner Essent. Nucl. Med. Physics (ed. 2) iv. 41 (caption) Proportional counter. The voltage causes gas amplification that gives electrons..enough energy to cause secondary ionization.
gas analyser n. a device for indicating the presence or proportion of different gases in a mixture.
ΚΠ
1870 Eng. Mechanic & World of Sci. 11 Nov. 179/3 This blower..would enable him to have a ‘pressure filter’, ‘glass blower’, ‘gas analyzer’..&c.
1942 Pop. Mech. May 173/1 One practical use for the portable atom sorter is as an accurate, high-speed gas analyzer for oil refining and prospecting.
2008 N. Draper & C. Hodgson Adventure Sport Physiol. iv. 129/1 A gas analyser to assess the oxygen and carbon dioxide content.
gas analysis n. Chemistry the process of determining the presence or proportion of different gases in a mixture; gasometry.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical assay or analytical chemistry > [noun] > acetimetry > gasometry
gasometry1790
gas analysis1837
1837 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. 20 251 The earlier chemists, who did not possess those extremely delicate methods of gas analysis, which are now available, gave wrong evidence in this matter.
1922 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 44 2850 Solutions of the trinitrides might be of use in the field of gas analysis.
2005 P. T. Williams Waste Treatm. & Disposal (ed. 2) iv. 220 The most accurate and reliable technique for gas analysis is gas chromatography.
gas apparatus n. (a) a device for producing gas; (b) a device which uses gas as a fuel.
ΚΠ
1801 tr. M. H. Klaproth Analyt. Ess. Chem. Knowl. Mineral Substances I. cxiii. 249 One hundred grains of it..were introduced into a coated glass-retort connected with the gas-apparatus, and ignited.
1897 Oxf. Chron. 30 Oct. 7/4 The geyser or gas apparatus for heating the bath was turned full on.
1956 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 12 May 284/2 Smoking is responsible for over 18% of fires in hospitals and homes—other important causes being fires in grates and electric and gas apparatus.
1999 P. J. Capelotti By Airship to North Pole vi. 151 The gas apparatus was apparently returned to Sweden with Andrée in the fall of 1896.
gas arc n. an electric arc formed in a noble gas under high pressure; a lamp in which the light is produced by such an arc; frequently attributive.
ΚΠ
1898 Marine Engineer Jan. 360/2 Fitted with..gas arc lamp for lighting the quay or deck.
1951 W. R. Stevens Princ. Lighting v. 117 Xenon may be used in either air-cooled or water-cooled lamps (for example, the ‘gas arc’).
2006 H. Blatt et al. Petrology (ed. 3) iii. 53 The solution is then vaporized in a gas arc.
gas barrel now rare (a) a cylinder or cylindrical container for storing gas or a mixture of gases; (b) (as a mass noun) iron tubing used for carrying gas; (as a count noun) a length of such tubing.
ΚΠ
1836 Observer 2 Oct. 3/4 The sovereign people were most indignant at the disappointment.., and tore up the gas barrels, seats, and every combustible article in the grounds..; fortunately the police saved the balloon.
1845 Documents Senate State of N.-Y. 68th Sess. I. No. 9. 77 Light and Fuel Account. By George E. Stanton, for six gas barrels.
1855 Jackson's Oxf. Jrnl. 15 Sept. 4/2 Iron gas barrel.
1866 Newton's London Jrnl. Arts & Sci. 23 345 A cast-iron piece fitted to the top of the gas barrel.
1937 Archit. Rev. 81 12 The heating in the cloak~rooms is by means of heating coils extending underneath boot lockers (which are constructed of welded gas-barrel).
1982 D. Sisman Prof. Diver's Handbk. iv. 135/2 Cooling is provided by directing the cold exhausted drive air through a jacket surrounding the gas barrel.
gas bath n. (a) [after German Gasbad (1808 or earlier)] a treatment involving exposure of a person to a gas or mixture of gases; a facility for providing such treatment; †(b) a bath heated by gas (obsolete rare).
ΚΠ
1816 London Med. Repository 6 432 Hepatic Gas Baths.—Dr. Gebhard has recently published an Account of the Gas and Mud Baths, situated near the Sulphur Springs at Eilsen, and which are now in very general use.
1866 C. Dickens Let. 10 Sept. (1999) XI. 244 Will you send me here by return..the name and address of the Gas-Bath maker, as they hang up in our Bathroom.
1986 Med. Anthropol. Q. 17 146/2 Dry-carbon gas baths, wherein the patient lies on a plexiglass platform, are used for radiculitis.
2007 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 25 Nov. v. 11/2 This morning's [treatment] started at 9 with a gas bath... The gas—a mixture of carbon dioxide, inert gases and hydrogen sulfide—is taken into the body through the skin.
gas battery n. now historical a battery in which each cell consists of two platinum electrodes partially submerged in an electrolyte and surrounded with one of two different gases (typically hydrogen and oxygen).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > galvanism, voltaism > voltaic or galvanic battery > [noun]
electric battery1774
pile1800
battery1801
trough1806
voltaic battery1812
voltaic pile1812
magnetomotor1823
trough battery1841
gas battery1843
gravity battery1870
sand-battery1873
Bunsen battery1879
gravitation battery1883
magazine batterya1884
perfluent batterya1884
1843 M. Faraday Let. 29 May (1996) III. 150 The paper [by W. R. Grove] on the Gas Battery I think fit for the Transactions.
1843 W. R. Grove in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 133 104 In this and many other experiments with the gas battery I..have never been able to produce any chemical change or electro-synthetic absorption of nitrogen.
1913 W. H. Howell Text-bk. Physiol. for Med. Students & Physicians (ed. 5) 100 In consequence of this accumulation of gases upon the poles a gas battery is formed, in which the direction of current is against that of the main current.
2008 J. R. Wilson & G. Burgh Energizing our Future x. 263 The concept of the fuel cell has been known since the early work of Grove on his hydrogen-oxygen ‘gas battery’ in 1842.
gas bellows n. now rare bellows for giving a blast of (flammable) gas.
ΚΠ
1865 J. L. Bullock & A. Vacher tr. C. R. Fresenius Syst. Instr. Quantitative Chem. Anal. (ed. 4) 297 Igniting over the gas-bellows.
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. II. 946/2 Gas-bellows, a kindling device consisting of a hollow poker attached by a flexible tube with the gas-pipe.
1985 New Scientist 11 Apr. 7/2 Arguments about the replacement of cracked gas bellows at the plant have been going on for several years.
gas bill n. (a) (chiefly with capital initials) a legislative bill concerned with the supply, manufacture, or use of gas; (b) a bill for payment for gas supplied.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > types of laws > [noun] > relating to gas supply
gas bill1816
society > trade and finance > management of money > keeping accounts > account or statement of > [noun] > invoice or bill > types of
long bill1616
by-bill1732
house bill1754
gas bill1816
advice note1834
pro forma1836
wash-bill1873
telephone bill1889
phone bill1936
1816 Morning Chron. 11 Apr. The Exeter Gas Bill was read a second time.
1836 Herald (N.Y.) 23 Nov. Mr. Ottey may save his regrets and pay his gas bills with them.
1995 Yorks. Evening Press 20 May 8/2 Sir Jerry Wiggin..took it upon himself to table an amendment to the Gas Bill.
2008 Guardian 20 Sept. (Guide Suppl.) 69/3 Pensioners who fear they won't be able to afford their gas bills this winter.
gas black n. = carbon black n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > black or blackness > blackening agent > [noun] > pigment
blackOE
lamp-black1598
charcoal-black1622
ivory-black1634
blue-black1665
bone black1665
Indian ink1665
India ink1700
smoke-black1712
China-ink1782
Frankfort black1823
almond black1835
Spanish black1839
gas black1841
abaiser1849
peach black1852
vine-black1860
carbon black1872
drop-black1879
aspergillin1891
1841 Repertory Patent Inventions 16 110 Also next take four ounces of gas black, which results from the smoke of gas burners received on surfaces of glass.
1938 R. Hum Chem. for Engin. Students iv. 71 Gas Black is, in some ways, similar to lampblack, but it is made by burning natural gas in an insufficient supply of air.
1998 Chem. Week (Nexis) 7 Jan. 47 Degussa has increased prices for carbon black used in pigments... Prices for lamp and gas blacks will increase 4%.
gas bladder n. a bladder containing gas; esp. the swim bladder of a fish.
ΚΠ
1826 J. Herma Spirits of Odin I. p. xiv Restless and rolling about in his bed, bloated like a gas bladder.
1840 M. Paine Med. & Physiol. Comm. I. 58 What apparent difference is there betwixt some membranous bags and the gas-bladders of fishes?
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) II. 821 Some species..have long branched stems furnished with gas-bladders that act as floats and keep the plant within the light.
2009 D. W. Willis et al. Introd. Wildlife & Fisheries (ed. 2) v. 96 Most fishes are also able to save energy by maintaining a neutral buoyancy by using the gas bladder.
gas bleaching n. now historical and rare bleaching of fabric, paper, etc., by fumigation with sulphur dioxide or chlorine gas; cf. sulphuring n. 2.
ΚΠ
1815 Literary Panorama Sept. 941 It appears, that gas-bleaching was now adopted in various parts of France, and that the chief obstacle to its being brought into general use was the want of a convenient and safe apparatus for the production of the oxymuriatic acid.
1876 Textile Colourist 2 246 The ancient process of hanging up [the wool] in a room in which sulphur is burned... This is usually known as gas bleaching.
1979 Business Hist. Rev. 53 202 Bleachers experimented with gas bleaching..before bleaching powder was invented.
gas blower n. (a) Coal Mining a stream of explosive gas emanating from a fissure in a mine; cf. blower n.1 4 (now historical and rare); (b) a blower (blower n.1 3a, 3b) for producing a stream of gas.
ΚΠ
1832 Mechanics' Mag. 26 May 122/1 I supposed that we had come upon a large gas blower for the whole of the eastern part of the colliery.
1842 U.S. Patent 2,506 1/2 Fig. 2 is the gas blower and is situated above the top of the gas flue, and shuts down and completely covers the top of the grate.
1882 Rep. Head Dept. Commonw. Pennsylvania 1881–2 II. 139 Dynamite..did not ignite the gas blowers so readily as powder.
1883 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Sentinel 11 Dec. 2/6 The fire was caused by a gas-blower exploding near the furnace shell.
1971 C. J. White Introd. Coal Mining Industry vii. 77 Efforts were sometimes made to pipe these ‘gas blowers’, as they were called.
2005 Nucl. Engin. Internat. (Nexis) 14 Dec. 20 The gas blower designed to extract the steam-air mixture from the ALS through the filter.
gas board n. (frequently with capital initials) an authority with responsibility for the supply of fuel gas to an area.
ΚΠ
1834 Manch. Times & Gaz. 25 Jan. 3/3 The Board of Gas Directors... A copy of the report of their committee to which it bears reference—Gas Board, January 8th., 1834.
1947 Public Admin. Rev. 7 167/2 The Heyworth Committee—recommended that there should be autonomous gas boards set up in ten great regions.
2002 D. Bowker Death you Deserve 18 He'd called out the Gas Board many times. A succession of disgruntled men had turned up to investigate the suspected leak.
gas boiler n. a boiler in which the combustion of gas is used as a source of heat.
ΚΠ
1834 Leeds Mercury 11 Jan. 8/1 Mr. Brook's communication on the Preservation of Gas Boilers, in our next.
1926 Pop. Mech. May 745/1 A seven-room house, heated by a tiny gas boiler.
2005 M. Lewycka Short Hist. Tractors in Ukrainian xiv. 147 It is unbearably hot indoors, with the gas boiler belting away and all the windows closed.
gas bomb n. (a) an explosive device whose force is derived from the ignition of gas (now rare); (b) an explosive device containing poisonous gas.
ΚΠ
1892 Washington Post 26 Aug. 7/1 Ascent of 5 gas bombs with powerful magnesium lights bursting in a flood of jewels.
1897 Sunday Herald (Syracuse, N.Y.) 25 Apr. 20/3 They came back,..bruised by stones flung from primitive catapults, and choking from the fumes of gas bombs thrown at them.
1915 Sphere 1 May 107/2 The Germans throw their gas bombs with a species of sling.
1995 N.Y. Times 21 Mar. a12/1 Searches under seat benches in subway cars for hidden weapons and gas bombs.
gas bottle n. (a) Chemistry a bottle or retort for holding gas (now rare); (b) a metal cylinder for storing pressurized gas; a gas cylinder.
ΚΠ
1801 W. Henry Epitome Chem. i. x. 38 To a saturated solution of ammonia in water..in a gas-bottle, apply the heat of a lamp.
1860 J. J. Griffin Chem. Recreations (ed. 10) ii. 194 A good cork is a treasure to a man who has to prepare a gas-bottle.
1893 U.S. Patent 489,302 1/2 A gas bottle supplying CO2 at pressure is attached thereto.
1932 Pop. Sci. Aug. 61/3 The absorption of the gas will be much more rapid so that water may even be drawn through the tube into the gas bottle.
1969 Boys' Life Feb. 18/4 To inflate it, you simply attach an accessory gas bottle.
2009 Guardian (Nexis) 31 Jan. (Review section) 5 Heating is by gas bottle and caravan heater.
gas bracket n. now chiefly historical = bracket n. 4.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > artificial light defined by light-source > [noun] > gaslight or lamp > parts of > gas-burner > pipe or frame supporting
gas chandelier1816
gas pendant1833
gas bracket1835
gasolier1839
pendant1858
bracket1867
1835 Aberdeen Jrnl. 18 Feb. (advt.) Japanned Bread Baskets and Waiters; Gas Brackets, and a great variety of other articles.
1922 Gas Manuf., Distribution & Use (Brit. Commerc. Gas Assoc.) i. 7/1 Children..should not hang clothes upon gas brackets or pendants.
2009 Gloucestershire Echo (Nexis) 19 June 7 When we moved in there was no electricity and the gas brackets were still on the walls.
gas buoy n. Nautical (now chiefly historical) a buoy incorporating a gaslight, used for giving guidance to ships.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > buoys, marks, or lighthouses > [noun] > buoy > other types of buoy
can-buoy1626
mast-buoy1675
nun buoy1703
breakwater1769
under-buoy1793
light buoy1822
bell-buoy1838
spar-buoy1860
gas buoy1865
whistling buoy1880
puppy1890
singing-buoy1894
gas float1895
1865 Times 26 Sept. 10/5 The schooner David and John of Montrose was seen among the broken water, near No. 2 Gas Buoy.
1927 Geogr. Jrnl. 69 247 Two acetylene gas buoys maintained by the British Government guide our ship to the inner anchorage of Manama.
2007 D. M. Powers Sentinel of Seas iii. 70 Particularly dangerous areas in busy harbors used gas buoys that burned continuously and were resupplied every two months.
gas burner n. any of various devices in which the combustion of gas is used as a source of light or heat; cf. burner n. 4.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > artificial light defined by light-source > [noun] > gaslight or lamp > parts of > gas-burner
gas burner1807
water slide1839
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > heating or making hot > that which or one who heats > [noun] > a device for heating or warming > fuelled by gas > gas-burner
gas burner1807
burner1885
1807 Monthly Mag. July 520/2 A four-branch gas burner with reflectors, in imitation of the Prince's feathers had a very pleasing and appropriate effect.
1919 Pop. Sci. May 50/3 Heat is applied to the bottom of the generator from a gas-burner.
2006 New Yorker 9 Jan. 62/2 A wizened cinder of a chef stirred a cannibal pot of spaghetti sauce on a gas burner.
gas cape n. now freq. historical a cape worn to provide protection against poison gas.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > loose clothing > cloak, mantle, or cape > types of > for specific purpose
masque1577
mourning cloak1610
coach-cloak1705
domino1719
rochet1728
watch-cloak1814
opera cloak1836
railway wrapper1846
duster1864
sortie de bal1864
dust-cloak1883
Venetian1891
gas cape1940
1940 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts 19 Apr. 543 And what subjects will inspire them? The beauty of a balloon barrage in an opal sky, perhaps..a group of men in gas capes, fumbling with their masks.
1957 R. Hoggart Uses of Literacy (1961) v. 117 Over a torn, old and grubby blouse and skirt she had for the street an ex-army gas-cape.
2002 R. Atkinson Army at Dawn (2003) ii. 83 They staggered into the dunes, shedding gas capes, goggles, wool undershirts, and grenades.
gas carbon n. now rare = retort carbon n. at retort n.1 Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > burning > products of burning > [noun] > soot > specific
flint-soot1577
blacking1594
gas carbon1842
stokers1899
1842 T. Graham Elements Chem. ii. i. 300 The following are the principal varieties: gas-carbon, lamp black, wood charcoal, coke, and ivory black.
1882 Electrician 9 Sept. 402/2 If a cylinder of graphite is employed, or, say, gas carbon, the electrolysis takes place.
1940 G. H. J. Adlam & L. S. Price Higher School Certificate Inorg. Chem. (ed. 2) xxxvi. 291 Gas carbon, or retort carbon, is..formed during the preparation of coal-gas.
gas cell n. an enclosed space or compartment used for holding gas; esp. one in an airship.
ΚΠ
1833 London & Edinb. Philos. Mag. 2 304 The author establishes a clear distinction between these gas cells and those above described as being filled with bituminous matter.
1928 C. F. S. Gamble Story N. Sea Air Station xix. 334 Above us the gas-cells are hanging limply down.
1953 Sewage & Industr. Wastes 25 350/2 The condensate was allowed to vaporize..into a previously evacuated gas cell.
2007 J. Fforde Thursday Next xxxix. 361 The tail-down attitude increased as the fourth gas cell erupted.
gas centrifuge n. a centrifuge for separating gases according to their molecular mass; esp. one used to enrich uranium for use as a nuclear fuel; cf. uranium enrichment n. at uranium n. Compounds 2.A high degree of separation typically requires a large number of gas centrifuges connected in series.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical assay or analytical chemistry > [noun] > acetimetry > centrifugation > apparatus
gasometer1790
centrifuge1866
azotometer1876
bottle shaker1891
gas centrifuge1919
microcentrifuge1937
1919 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 20 May 356/1 Apparatus for quantitatively analyzing gaseous mixtures containing known constituents comprising in combination a pair of gas centrifuges.
1964 New Scientist 10 Sept. 617/3 The gas centrifuge, the poor man's route to uranium-235.
2004 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 26 Feb. 30/1 Iran had been building gas centrifuges—sophisticated machines that can be used for enriching uranium.
gas centrifuging n. the action or process of separating gases according to their molecular mass in a centrifuge, typically used to enrich uranium for use as a nuclear fuel.
ΚΠ
1939 U.S. Patent 2,147,670 7/1 A gas centrifuging device connecting with the exhaust pipe operating to subject the exhaust gases to centrifugal action.
1960 Times 19 Oct. 15/3 The production of enriched uranium by gas-centrifuging.
2002 CNN (Nexis) 12 Oct. A site where Iraq had been experimenting with gas centrifuging to enrich uranium in a nuclear weapons program.
gas chandelier n. now chiefly historical a chandelier for holding a number of gaslights; cf. gasolier n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > artificial light defined by light-source > [noun] > gaslight or lamp > parts of > gas-burner > pipe or frame supporting
gas chandelier1816
gas pendant1833
gas bracket1835
gasolier1839
pendant1858
bracket1867
1816 Morning Post 9 Sept. A superb Gas Chandelier, on an entirely new principle, has been erected in the Grand Staircase.
1868 Morning Star 26 Mar. This staircase is lighted..by two corona gas chandeliers.
1930 Lancet 1 Mar. 472/1 The sliding gas chandelier which has caused 14 deaths during the last eight years.
2009 Bay City (Mich.) Times (Nexis) 10 Dec. a11 The floor of the saloon is still original and gas chandeliers still hang from the ceiling.
gas check n. Firearms and Gunnery a sealing device to prevent escape of combustion gases around or behind the bullet in firing a gun; esp. a thin cap or cup fitted to the base of a cartridge, used to reduce deposition of lead in the barrel and improve performance; cf. obturator n. 3b.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > parts and fittings of firearms > [noun] > breech > part to prevent escape of gas
gas check1856
Broadwell ring1867
gas ring1880
1856 U.S. Patent 14,253 1/1 Fig. 3, a view of the top part when open and showing the entrance to the chamber round which the thin flexible gas-check is fixed.
1901 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 49 274/2 A certain increase in the life of a gun can be gained by using an efficient gas check.
2006 W. van Zwoll Hunter's Guide Long-range Shooting vi. 233 A gas check lets you wring 2,000 fps from most bullets without compromising accuracy.
gas coal n. bituminous coal used in the manufacture of coal gas.
ΚΠ
1827 Caledonian Mercury 11 June 1/3 There is coal in the lands, and, it is believed, also a seam of gas coal and fire clay, &c.
1898 Daily News 18 Apr. 11/5 More money has to be paid for steam, bunkers, and gas coals.
1961 Fowler's Mech. Engineer's Pocket Bk. (ed. 63) 180 Gas coals—These coals are black in colour, and are usually hard and dense, having a specific gravity of about 1.3.
1997 Fuel 76 565/2 Of the chars investigated, the most useful for the desulfurization of gases are those obtained from lower-rank coals, i.e. flame and gas coals.
gas cock n. = gas tap n.
ΚΠ
1819 T. S. Peckston Theory & Pract. Gas-lighting xvi. 303 A gas-cock with one-sixteenth of an inch aperture, is amply sufficient for supplying one Argand burner.
1910 E. O. Hiller Pract. Cook Bk. 11 Turn the gas cock of the lighted burner to the right, thus shutting off the gas.
2000 Times (Nexis) 8 July Drawing up lists for Nigella about where the gas cock is and what the little fuse box next to the two big ones is for.
gas coke n. coke produced in the manufacture of coal gas.
ΚΠ
1822 Times 8 Mar. 4/3 (advt.) A large quantity of gas coke, or breeze, lying on the railway wharf, very convenient for water carriage.
1905 W. Macfarlane Lab. Notes Pract. Metall. ii. 13 Gas coke is often good enough for a pot furnace.
2001 K. Warren Wealth, Waste, & Alienation i. 1 A coke much harder and denser than gas coke.
gas company n. a company which produces or supplies gas for lighting, heating, or cooking.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > fuel > gas or types of gas > [noun] > process of supplying with gas > supplier
gas company1810
1810 Belfast Monthly Mag. Dec. 461/2 Mr. Winsor by his advertisements, patents, extraordinary plan for a gas company with a vast capital,..has most brought the invention into notice.
1817 ‘Candidus’ Observ. Gas-lights 48 If the Gas Companies wish to extend the introduction of their lights.
a1902 F. Norris Pit (1903) ii. 51 While she was gone the man from the gas company called to turn on the meter.
1991 Daily Star 24 Dec. 5/1 Michael only found out he'd been blacklisted when his gas company asked for their account to be put in his wife's name.
gas condenser n. a device for condensing gas; = condenser n. 4c.
ΚΠ
1823 Mechanic's Mag. 6 Dec. 232/1 (heading) Gas condenser.
1917 Jrnl. Engineers' Club Philadelphia 34 241/1 A certain connection between a recently-erected gas condenser and the main tar drain.
2000 Observer (Nexis) 2 July (Life section) 56 The heating industry still seems mystified by its legacy of recovery systems, heat pumps, photovoltaic cells and gas condensers.
gas constant n. Physical Chemistry the constant of proportionality, R, in the equation of state for an ideal gas, nRT = PV, where P is the pressure, V is the volume, n is the number of moles of gas, and T is the absolute temperature; cf. R n. 7.The gas constant is approx. equal to 8.314 joule kelvin−1 mole−1.
ΚΠ
1851 tr. R. Clausius in London, Edinb., & Dublin Philos. Mag. 4th Ser. 2 7 pv = R(a + t),..where p, v, and t express the pressure, volume, and temperature, of the gas..and R also a constant.]
1890 W. Ostwald Outl. Gen. Chem. vii. 248 R being the gas-constant (equal in thermal measurement to 2 cal. for a gram-molecular weight).
1955 Science 28 Oct. 831/2 RT is the gas constant, 1.987 cal deg−1 mole−1, times the temperature, 298.1 °K.
1994 New Scientist 3 Dec. 81/2 Boltzmann's entropy constant (the gas constant divided by Avogadro's number) is 1.4 x10-23 joules per kelvin.
gas cooker n. a cooker in which the combustion of gas is used as a source of heat; cf. gas stove n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > equipment for food preparation > stove or cooker > [noun]
range1423
buccan1611
fire-range1668
stew-stove1727
screw-range1772
stew-hole1780
cooking stove1796
range stove1803
cooking range1805
cookstove1820
kitchener1829
gas range1853
cooker1860
gas cooker1873
Soyer's stove1878
hay-box1885
blazer1889
machine oven1890
paraffin stove1891
primus1893
electric cooker1894
electric range1894
Yukon stove1898
fireless cooker1904
picnic stove1910
pressure stove1914
Tommy cooker1915
rangette1922
Aga1931
barbecue1931
Rayburn1947
sigri1949
jiko1973
1873 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 29 Aug. 795/1 One series of jets is made to perform two sets of operations, as in the small gas cooker described above.
1937 ‘G. Orwell’ Road to Wigan Pier 67 Up to date electric cooker hired from Corporation at much the same rate as a gas cooker.
2010 Guardian (Nexis) 9 Jan. (Travel section) 6 There's a gas cooker, fridge and kettle (but no toaster).
gas cooking n. cooking in which the combustion of gas is used as a source of heat; cooking by means of a gas cooker.
ΚΠ
1833 Mechanics' Mag. 23 Nov. 128/2 Hick's apparatus for gas-cooking is described in our 495 No., and Mallet's in No. 521.
1936 Economist 28 Mar. 738/1 The ‘New World’ cooker..revolutionised gas cooking.
2009 North Shore Times (Sydney) (Nexis) 9 Oct. 83 The kitchen has a Miele dishwasher and is equipped for gas cooking.
gas-cooled adj. cooled by gas; esp. (of a nuclear reactor) using gas as a coolant (cf. advanced gas-cooled reactor n. at advanced adj. Compounds and liquid-cooled adj. at liquid adj. and n. Compounds 2a).
ΚΠ
1913 Electr. Rev. 17 May 1016/2 A gas-cooled filament is thus capable of giving stroboscopic effects of considerable sharpness.
1949 C. Goodman Sci. & Engin. Nucl. Power II. x. 141 It is obvious that split-flow would be advantageous for gas-cooled reactors.
2010 New Scientist 6 Mar. 9/2 China has already begun site preparations for a Generation IV reactor called the HTR-PM, a gas-cooled ‘pebble bed’ reactor.
gas cylinder n. a cylinder filled with gas; esp. a metal one for holding gas at pressure.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > receptacle or container > [noun] > cylindrical
drum1785
cylinder1791
gas cylinder1807
bottle1868
spill1895
1807 A. Aikin & C. R. Aikin Dict. Chem. & Mineral. II. 532/1 The fixed cylinder h. h. in which space the gas-cylinder b moves up and down freely.
1886 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 4 Sept. 457/2 By placing the gas-bag in connection with a gas-cylinder worked by the foot,..nitrous oxide can be administered alone.
1923 R. Kipling Irish Guards in Great War I. 120 Recessions..in the trenches for the reception of gas-cylinders.
2001 R. Nicoll White Male Heart (2002) 343 He..walked along the path that led around the side, passing the woodshed and the neatly stacked pile of empty gas cylinders.
gas detector n. a device for indicating the presence of explosive or (now usually) poisonous gas.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > instrument for detection > [noun] > electronic > used for specific purpose
gas detector1865
hydrostat1871
kinesiscope1893
leak detector1921
mine detector1943
sky screen1945
heat-seeker1956
1865 Mechanics' Mag. 21 July 34/2 Enough has now been said..to lead to a more exact comprehension of Mr. Ansell's Fire Damp and Gas Detector.
1938 Times 11 Feb. 11/4 The sentry sat watching his gas-detector, and when it changed colour he sounded the gas-alarm.
1998 Canal Boat & Inland Waterways Aug. 28/3 Fittings include two gas detectors—one high and one low in the galley area.
gas douche n. [after German Gasdouche (1821 or earlier)] Medicine (now rare or disused) a jet of gas, esp. carbon dioxide, introduced into a cavity of the body for (supposed) therapeutic purposes.
ΚΠ
1837 J. R. Bennett tr. W. Kramer Nature & Treatm. Dis. Ear ii. ii. 197 Even the gas-douche is never applicable to nervous deafness.
1871 Med. & Surg. Reporter 18 Feb. 141/1 The gas douche applied every ten minutes, with the effect of relieving the pain in so marked a manner that it was with difficulty that I could convince the mother and nurse that I had not stopped the labor.
1913 Amer. Jrnl. Clin. Med. 20 77/2 The remedy is carbonic-acid gas douches applied into the vagina or into the rectum by means of a gas-generator which I have introduced.
gas drain n. Coal Mining (now rare) a passage allowing explosive gas to escape from a mine.
ΚΠ
1882 Trans. Midland Inst. Mining, Civil & Mech. Engineers 1879–81 7 234 In one case a special gas drain was formed on the rise.
1916 Trans. Inst. Mining Engineers 1915–6 51 596 Mr. James Ryan (a ‘Director of Mines’, who had invented a species of gas-drain).
† gas dregs n. Obsolete liquid or semi-liquid waste produced in the manufacture of gas.
ΚΠ
1826 Times 12 Jan. 3/3 The gas dregs could not by any possibility have escaped into the stream.
1831 T. L. Peacock Crotchet Castle iv. 67 Mud, filth, gas-dregs, lock-wiers [sic], and the march of mind..have ruined the fishery.
gas dynamics n. Physics the branch of physics concerned with the dynamic properties and behaviour of gases; (also) the dynamic properties and behaviour of a gas.
ΚΠ
1913 Observatory 36 455 It has often been proposed to apply gas-dynamics to the stellar system, by Poincaré, for instance.
1971 Sci. Amer. Dec. 39 Holography has been used..to record high-speed events in gas dynamics.
2003 M. Roos Introd. Cosmol. (ed. 3) ix. 243 The gas dynamics may easily be modified by such [magnetic] fields.
gas equation n. Physics any of several equations relating certain physical properties of gases to a parameter such as temperature; spec. that known as Boyle's law, relating pressure, volume, and temperature; cf. gas law n.Cf. also Charles's law n. at law n.1 17c(b), Graham's law at Graham n.2, van der Waals n. (a).
ΚΠ
1892 Nature 24 Mar. 487/1 Such an application of his [sc. van der Waals'] simple gas equation to a solution as that given in Prof. Ostwald's book.
1902 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) A. 199 3 The principal difficulty lies in finding a system which shall satisfy the ordinarily assumed gas equations, and shall at the same time give an adequate representation of the primitive nebula of astronomy.
1986 Medicina 46 148/2 Alveolar oxygen tension..was obtained from the alveolar gas equation.
2008 G. F. Merrill Our Marvelous Bodies v. 81 A textbook of respiratory physiology will explain some of the more important gas equations. For our discussion, Boyle's law is most important.
gas escape n. a gas leak.
ΚΠ
1827 Jackson's Oxf. Jrnl. 1 Dec. The strictest investigations..will be made into the causes of the terrific and dangerous explosions—to ascertain whether they resulted wholly from gas ‘escapes’.
1940 W. Empson Gathering Storm 46 He makes no leak we ought to mend Or gas-escape that should not blow.
1995 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 7 Jan. 7 Thorough investigation of our records..has revealed no trace of a telephone call by Mr Baillie reporting a gas escape.
gas exchange n. Physiology the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between an organism or cell and the environment (typically, in vertebrates, involving the lungs or gills, blood, and tissues).
ΚΠ
1867 Biennial Retrospect Med., Surg., & Allied Sci. 423 The symptoms of asphyxia from impeded placental gas-exchange.
1896 Bot. Gaz. 21 30 Under ordinary conditions the main gas exchange is through the stomata.
1949 H. W. C. Vines Green's Man. Pathol. (ed. 17) xxxii. 829 The basal metabolic rate is calculated from the respiratory gas exchange.
2010 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) Feb. 68/2 Osedax has little appendages that stick out into the water column for gas exchange.
gas field n. †(a) a field associated with a gasworks (in later use frequently in place names) (obsolete); (b) an area of land or seabed underlain by deposits of natural gas, esp. in amounts that support commercial exploitation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > minerals > mineral sources > [noun] > tract of land
ground1548
coalfield1734
gas field1833
tin-ground1839
gold-diggings1848
goldfield1848
oilfield1863
oil belt1865
flat1869
tin-field1898
copper belt1955
oil patch1958
the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > [noun] > enclosed land or field > other fields
broom-fieldc1314
summer field1597
roughet1616
share acre1641
work field1684
town park1701
tath-field1753
town1822
gas field1833
summer country1860
broom-croft1871
infield1875
1833 Belfast News-Let. 8 Nov. There was then no cart-way between the Gas-yard and the Gas-field.
1866 Leeds Mercury 11 July 3/6 Mr. William Clayton, a moulder, residing in the Gas-field, Bingley.
1871 Titusville (Pa.) Morning Herald 9 Mar. (headline) The vast gas field of Ohio.
1883 Huddersfield Daily Chron. 8 Sept. 8/5 The surveyor reported that he had commenced the main sewer through the Gas Field at Newmill.
1911 Science 7 Apr. 524/1 The supplying of Fort Worth and Dallas from the gas fields of Clay County, Texas.
2010 Irish Times (Nexis) 28 June 4 A Transocean-owned rig arrived off the Mayo coast in early June to work on the Corrib gas field.
gas-fired adj. (of a heater, boiler, oven, etc.) using the combustion of gas as a source of heat.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > heating or making hot > [adjective] > heated or warmed > heated by specific means
steam-heated1835
coal-fired1855
gas-fired1862
solar-heated1952
1862 J. A. Phillips & W. H. Dorman Truran's Iron Manuf. Great Brit. (ed. 2) xi. 149 No means existed for ascertaining the exact proportion which the volume of steam produced from the gas-fired boilers bore to that from the coal-fired.
1922 Pacific Service Mag. Dec. 221/1 This is the largest gas-fired baking oven in the West.
2010 Mail on Sunday (Nexis) 12 Dec. The most economical way to keep up energy production would be to build more gas-fired power stations.
gas firing n. heating of a furnace, boiler, oven, etc., by means of the combustion of gas; (also) the use of regenerative heating in a furnace.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > heating or making hot > [noun] > heating of building > specific system of
radiant heating1825
central heating1871
baseboard heating1908
pressure jet1910
space heating1930
ondol1935
gas firing1961
storage heating1961
microbore1968
1869 W. Crookes & E. Röhrig Kerl's Pract. Treat. Metall. II. ii. 512 At the Ormsby Iron Works two hot blast stoves with gas firing are more effective than three hot blast stoves with coal firing.
1914 Trans. Amer. Electrochem. Soc. 25 164 The fuel consumption has been decreased largely, mainly by the adoption of regenerative gas-firing.
1961 Listener 12 Oct. 583/1 Dwellers in urban districts may find gas-firing has much to commend it.
2008 S. Amber Ceramics for Beginners 22/3 The advanced ceramic artist who wishes to create the special effects that can be achieved by gas firing.
gas fixture n. now chiefly historical a gaslight fixed in position within a room.
ΚΠ
1823 Morning Chron. 21 Mar. When it was found that part of the Property named being Gas Fixtures, it was found advisable to send to Dawson and Cafe to go and value same.
1935 Times 28 Oct. 13/7 He was found hanging from a gas fixture in a room full of gas.
2000 Hist. Archaeol. 34 99/1 Period photographs show gas fixtures in the entrance hall, the dining room, and the billiard room.
gas float n. now rare = gas buoy n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > buoys, marks, or lighthouses > [noun] > buoy > other types of buoy
can-buoy1626
mast-buoy1675
nun buoy1703
breakwater1769
under-buoy1793
light buoy1822
bell-buoy1838
spar-buoy1860
gas buoy1865
whistling buoy1880
puppy1890
singing-buoy1894
gas float1895
1895 North-eastern Daily Gaz. 9 Aug. The gas float, although not a ship within the meaning of the term, would have been a subject for salvage if she had broken adrift.
1907 A. R. Kennedy Kennedy's Treat. Law Civil Salvage (ed. 2) iii. 56 A gas-float or buoy moored as a beacon.
gas-focused adj. Electronics (now chiefly historical) (of a cathode ray tube) focusing the electron beam by means of positive ions produced in a residual gas.
ΚΠ
1932 Jrnl. Inst. Electr. Engineers 71 57 (title) Accuracy of measurements made with hot-filament cathode-ray tubes of the gas-focused type.
1959 J. F. Rider & F. D. Uslan Encycl. Cathode-Ray Oscilloscopes (ed. 2) i. 11/1 The Western Electric 224, a gas-focused type of tube.
1995 A. Abramson Zworykin vi. 74 A tremendous advance over the Western Electric gas-focused tube that had dominated the oscillograph field.
gas focusing n. Electronics (now chiefly historical) (in a cathode ray tube) focusing of an electron beam by means of positive ions produced in a residual gas.
ΚΠ
1931 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. 212 717 In this method there is less disturbance from gas focusing and space charge if the filament current is made as low as will give a still visible spot with the magnetic focusing.
1960 New Scientist 9 June 1475/1 The only cathode ray tube in practical use was a small soft vacuum affair which relied upon gas-focusing and which could not be modulated without loss of focus.
2009 F. Nebeker Dawn of Electronic Age vii. 285 This tube relied on electric fields to obtain a tightly focussed electron beam; until then electromagnetic focusing and gas focusing..had seemed more promising.
gas gangrene n. [after French gangrène gazeuse (see gaseous gangrene n. at gaseous adj. Compounds)] Medicine an acute, severe form of gangrene, typically beginning in infected wounds, caused by anaerobic bacteria, esp. clostridia, which produce gas by fermentation; cf. earlier gaseous gangrene n. at gaseous adj. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > diseases of tissue > [noun] > alteration of tissue > necrosis > types of
fever sore1731
white gangrene1753
hospital ulcer1799
hospital gangrene1813
mildew-mortification1817
caseation1868
phosphorus necrosis1869
gaseous gangrene1882
coagulation necrosis1883
phossy jaw1889
phos1892
gas gangrene1896
1896 A. Bruce tr. R. Thoma Text-bk. Gen. Pathol. I. iv. 84 At the same time bullæ containing gas are sometimes formed in the dying tissue (gas gangrene).
1939 W. H. Auden & C. Isherwood Journey to War 93 The sweet stench of gas-gangrene from a rotting leg.
2005 Independent 6 June 2/3 Clostridium difficile is the commonest cause of diarrhoea in hospitals and can lead, in severe cases, to inflammation of the gut similar to gas gangrene.
gas generator n. an apparatus for producing gas.
ΚΠ
1824 London Jrnl. Arts & Sci. 8 76 Any..convenient form of air exhauster, to be placed between the retort, oven, or other gas generator and the gasometer.
1914 Pop. Mech. Dec. 944/1 A gas generator designed for laboratories where gases are needed in large quantities.
2002 R. D. Launius in R. D. Launius & D. R. Jenkins To Reach High Frontier iv. 159 Gas generators used fuel and oxidizer to generate high-pressure gas for powering the turboprops during flight.
gas globe n. (a) a gas-filled balloon, a hot-air balloon (now rare); (b) a globe of glass or porcelain used to shade a gaslight (now historical).
ΚΠ
1784 Whitehall Evening-post 10–12 Aug. [He] perceived..a gas globe or balloon, floating in an horizontal direction, a few yards higher than the trees.
1827 Caledonian Mercury 13 Dec. 1/1 Estimates wanted. For supplying the Police Establishment with gas lamp pillars, gas globes and heads.
1850 Fraser's Mag. Mar. 297/2 We withdrew the charcoal from the gas-globe, and stowed it away till we should need again the wings of the hydrogen.
1900 Harper's Mag. May 838/2 Not a butterfly, but a poor singed moth, tumbled from the gas-globe.
2008 E. Donoghue Sealed Let. i. 12 The gas globes hanging from the ceiling give off a light that's wan but bright enough to read by.
gas gong n. (in the First World War (1914–18)) a gong, typically an empty shell case, sounded to give warning of a gas attack.
ΚΠ
1916 W. A. P. Durie Let. 30 Apr. in Toronto Life (Nexis) Nov. I had not been long in bed when the gas gong rang and an officer of the Battalion next us put his head into our shack and shouted ‘Gas! Stand to!’
1924 R. H. Mottram Spanish Farm iii. 230 The gas-gong hanging from a nail.
2007 Evening News (Edinb.) (Nexis) 25 July 43 We managed to acquire—via eBay—the artillery shell dinner gong which..most probably had been used as a gas gong in the trenches.
gas governor n. a device for controlling the flow or pressure of gas; cf. gas regulator n.
ΚΠ
1817 Port Folio Aug. 169 Two most brilliant improvements in gas lights. They consist of a flat circular retort, divided into compartments, and a gas-governor, so called.
1921 A. E. Baines Germination in Electr. Aspect i. 21 Their function is akin to that of a gas governor which when the water is sufficiently hot automatically lowers the flame.
2002 R. D. Treloar Plumbing: Heating & Gas Installations (ed. 2) iv. 166 Gas governors, these are devices which..ensure that the gas arriving at the appliance does so at a constant pressure.
† gas harmonicon n. Obsolete rare a musical instrument in which the sound is produced by a flame of hydrogen or other gas burning at the bottom of a glass tube; = chemical harmonicon at harmonicon n. e.
ΚΠ
1875 Encycl. Brit. I. 115/1 Gas harmonicon consists of a small flame of hydrogen or of coal gas, burning at the lower part of the interior of a glass tube, and giving out a very distinct note.
1884 Dundee Courier & Argus 13 Mar. The complicated tones produced by a large gas harmonicon.
gas heater n. a heater in which the combustion of gas is used as a source of heat; esp. one used for heating a room in a house.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > heating or making hot > that which or one who heats > [noun] > a device for heating or warming > fuelled by gas
gas fire1818
gas heater1849
1849 London Jrnl. Arts, Sci., & Manuf. 34 297 Henry Field, of 65, Argyle-street, Glasgow, tin-plate-worker, for a gas-heater for baths and other purposes.
1928 People's Home Jrnl. Nov. 10/1 We have a number of different types from which to make our choice: the fireplace, the electric heater, the oil heater and the gas heater.
2009 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 10 Jan. (Property section) 7 With its realistic coal-fire effect and traditional cast-iron stove design, this gas heater brings a warm, cosy glow to any room.
gas helmet n. now chiefly historical = gas mask n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > [noun] > means of protection or defence > device or contrivance to protect a thing or person > protection worn on face > respirator
mouthpiece1790
nosebag1834
respirator1836
inhaler1864
smoke respirator1866
aerophore1876
open circuit1876
inspirator1898
muzzle1899
smoke helmet1900
gas helmet1910
gas mask1915
mask1915
oxygen mask1920
inhalator1929
closed circuit1953
1910 Light Heat Power Jan. 356/2 The Connelly Iron Sponge & Governor Co...showed a large display. Included were automatic governors, balance governors.., gas helmets, iron sponge, etc.
1915 Punch 15 Dec. 488/3 Will officers please state how many Gas Helmets they possess?
1994 M. Gilbert First World War xi. 217 The British troops..were now well trained in gas drill and well equipped with gas helmets.
gas holder n. a container for holding gas; esp. = gasometer n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > fuel > gas or types of gas > [noun] > storage of gas > receptacle
gas holder1800
gasometer1808
gas tank1852
bottle1868
the mind > possession > supply > storage > [noun] > place where anything is or may be stored > receptacle > for liquids > specific
gas holder1800
gasometer1808
oilometer1897
1800 Philos. Mag. 8 218 The gas-holder will thus become charged with two atmospheres.
1906 Pop. Mech. Dec. 1230/1 The largest gasholder in the world is located in New York. Its capacity is 15,000,000 cu. ft.
2009 Mirror (Nexis) 5 Aug. 57 If it's 1-1 going to The Oval..there are going to be people hanging from the rafters or climbing up that gas holder.
gas hydrate n. [compare French hydrate de gaz (J. B. Van Mons in tr. H. Davy Élém. de philos. chimique (1813) I. 302)] Chemistry a clathrate compound formed by a gas and ice under conditions of high pressure and/or low temperature; (Geology) such a compound of methane and ice occurring in permafrost, marine sediments, etc.
ΚΠ
1893 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 22 Apr. 866/2 The presence of a carbonic acid gas hydrate had long been concluded from the existence of another combination that is a derivative of it, namely, carbonic acid ethyl.]
1897 W. D. Bancroft Phase Rule v. 76 This is not the way Roozeboom writes it, but I have changed his nomenclature to make it agree with his usage in the papers on the gas hydrates.
1934 Industr. & Engin. Chem. 26 851/2 The formation of gas hydrates in natural gas pipe lines depends primarily upon the pressure, temperature, and composition of the gas–water vapor mixture.
1974 V. B. Mountcastle et al. Med. Physiol. (ed. 13) II. lxvi. 1581/2 The most recent concept..is the proposal that narcosis in general and by inert gases in particular is the result of a formation of gas hydrate ‘microcrystals’.
2002 Canad. Geographic May 24/1 Gas hydrates are concentrated in arctic permafrost and marine continental shelves around the globe.
gas indicator n. (a) a device for indicating the presence of gas, esp. (in early use) explosive gas in a coal mine; (b) a gas gauge (obsolete rare).
ΚΠ
1861 Trans. Inst. Engineers Scotl. 4 Index 184 Mines, Simpson's Gas Indicator for.
1891 U.S. Patent 459,245 2/1 The receiver has..on its face a gas-indicator, and on its side a water-gage.
1908 J. T. Beard Mine Gases & Explosions vii. 313 The device is not all that is required of a gas indicator for mine use.
2007 Herald Express (Torquay) (Nexis) 3 Feb. 2 The gas indicator revealed the levels of carbon monoxide within the property were not harmful.
gas injection n. [perhaps after German Gas-Injection (1821 or earlier)] the injection of gas into something or someone; an instance of this.Originally as a therapeutic or diagnostic procedure; later also as a technique in the exploitation of gas and oil deposits.
ΚΠ
1871 Med. & Surg. Reporter 18 Feb. 141/1 It was only when the sufferings became intensified, as the head pressed upon the rigid perineum, that they again had faith. In this case the gas injection was applied four times, at intervals of ten minutes.
1896 B. Blount & A. G. Bloxam Chem. Engineers & Manufacturers II. ii. 45 Gas injection pipe.
1903 R. Bartholow Pract. Treat. Materia Medica & Therapeutics (ed. 11) 374 Spasmodic asthma—the neurosis—it is probable, can be cured, and a single gas-injection might suffice.
1930 Sci. News Let. 15 Nov. 319/2 Gas injection was started in January, 1930, and by October 1 almost 100,000,000 cubic feet had been forced into the pay sand.
1937 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 6 Nov. 894/2 We occasionally supplemented a ventriculography by gas injection.
1976 Offshore Engineer July 20/3 A cluster of 10 wells with four satellite wells for water and gas injection.
2009 S.-J. Liu in M. R. Kamal et al. Injection Molding v. 200 The gas injection unit can either be an independently operated unit or integrated into the injection molding machine.
2011 Acta Ophthalmologica 89 172 Recurrent disease was treated with repeated gas injection or vitrectomy.
gas jar n. chiefly Chemistry a glass jar, typically a plain cylinder, used for collecting and holding gas.
ΚΠ
1812 Jrnl. Nat. Philos., Chem., & Arts Nov. 164 Nitrous oxide..was transferred from the gas-jar into the receiver of the pump.
1933 A. W. Barton Text Bk. Heat v. 107 35.0 c.c. of argon are collected in a gas jar over water.
2007 Plant Cell 19 2194/2 Seedlings were placed in air-tight gas jars in the presence of 10μL/L ethylene.
gas-kinetic adj. Physics that can be approximately described using the kinetic theory of gases; characteristic of or relating to the kinetic theory of gases.
ΚΠ
1914 E. H. Hall in Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. 50 70 The specific conductivity of a metal is the sum of two parts, one due to the (A) electrons, the other to the (B), or ‘gas-kinetic’, electrons.
1929 J. A. Ratcliffe Physical Princ. Wireless ii. 21 In a metal we suppose that there exist free electrons, which move about hither and thither in random directions with ‘gas-kinetic’ velocities.
2004 J. I. Castor Radiation Hydrodynamics vi. 122 For gas-kinetic viscosity we use an estimate μ = ρλgνth, where λg is a gas-kinetic mean free path.
gas kinetics n. the branch of physics concerned with the kinetic properties of gases.
ΚΠ
1910 N. Latta Amer. Producer Gas Pract. xvii. 381 It is a law of gas kinetics that any change in either direction or velocity of a gas, tends to precipitate its mechanical ingredients.
1937 Discovery Dec. 394/2 The main topics include..gas kinetics, magnetic and electric moments.
2001 M. Christie Investigating Ozone Layer xii. 156 Many of the leading atmospheric chemists were trained..in the field of gas kinetics.
gas lamp n. now chiefly historical a lamp in which the combustion of gas is used as a source of light; esp. one used as a street light.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > artificial light defined by light-source > [noun] > gaslight or lamp
gaslight1808
gas lamp1814
gas1817
pronghorn1922
1814 European Mag. & London Rev. Nov. 418/1 An experiment made on the street gas-lights and the street oil lamps, proves that one gas-lamp gives an intensity of light equal to thirty oil-lamps.
1902 Motor Cycling & Motoring 8 Oct. 134/1 Gas lamps are regarded as lacking the simplicity of oil lamps, and so motor cyclists prefer to use the latter.
2002 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) July 110/1 As recently as the 1980s..the park's tall gas lamps were tended to each evening by a ‘glimmer man’.
gas lantern n. a lantern in which the combustion of gas is used as a source of light; (now esp.) one used while camping.
ΚΠ
1819 Jackson's Oxf. Jrnl. 14 Aug. How convenient will a gas lantern be!
1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Gas-lantern maker.
1902 Northeastern Reporter 63 408/2 The gas lanterns used for lighting the streets.
1991 D. R. Koontz Cold Fire ii. vii. 304 In the lactescent glow of the softly hissing gas lantern, his eyes were blue again.
gas laser n. a laser in which the working medium is a gas.
ΚΠ
1961 Industr. Bull. of Arthur D. Little May 4/1 A gas laser will amplify light and produce a very intense, very narrow beam of radiation that is all at one wavelength, i.e., monochromatic.
1967 Times 4 Apr. 19/1 (headline) British firm to sell gas lasers in America.
2006 Y. B. Band Light & Matter vii. 439/2 Another form of gas laser uses the lasing of the noble gas ions Ne+, Ar+, Kr+ and Xe+.
gas law n. Physics any of several laws describing the physical properties of gases, as Boyle's law, Charles's law, etc.; = gas equation n.
ΚΠ
1892 Nature 21 Apr. 592/1 The way to a rational theory of the liquid condition leads from the gases, through their variation from the simple gas laws.
1966 A. K. Barnard & A. L. Mansell Fund. Physical Chem. iii. 108 These Gas Laws are really generalizations about the behaviour of gases to which most conform only approximately.
2005 D. A. Shugarts Secrets of Widow's Son (2009) 58 Among the scientists was Robert Boyle, known for the gas law of volume and pressure.
gas-lighted adj. = gaslit adj.
ΚΠ
1821 European Mag. & London Rev. June 553/2 The gas lighted shrubbery in the Saloon looks as green and refreshing as ever it did.
1915 J. Galsworthy First & Last in Cosmopolitan June 12/2 He was in a gas-lighted passage with an oil-clothed floor.
1996 Stud. in Amer. Renaissance 321 The new gas-lighted and steam-heated Mechanics Hall Building.
gas lime n. now rare lime which has been used to purify coal gas, typically used for dressing soil.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > preparation of land or soil > fertilizing or manuring > [noun] > use of other natural fertilizers > other natural fertilizers
marl1280
pomacec1450
cod's head1545
buck-ashes1563
bucking-ashes1577
guano1604
greaves1614
rape cake1634
muck1660
wool-nipping1669
willow-earth1683
green dressing1732
bone flour1758
bone powder1758
poudrette1764
bone dust1771
green manure1785
fish-manure1788
wassal1797
lime-rubbish1805
Bude sand1808
bone1813
cancerine1840
inch-bones1846
bonemeal1849
silver sand1851
fish guano1857
food1857
terramare1866
kainite1868
fish-flour1879
soil1879
fish-scrap1881
gas lime1882
bean cake1887
inoculant1916
1833 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 8 Oct. The efficacy of gas lime in removing all unnecessary hair from the backs of animals and chins of men.
1882 Garden 1 Apr. 219/1 Any strong smelling preparation spread over the ground will be found very useful, such as gas-lime.
1915 E. J. Russell Soils & Manures xiii. 193 Gas lime may be used with advantage when it can be obtained cheaply, but it can only be applied in winter.
gas liquor n. Chemistry a solution of ammonia, ammonium salts, phenols, and other substances in water, produced in the manufacture of coal gas.
ΚΠ
1800 Repertory Arts & Manuf. 13 90 I introduce gas into the above volatile alkalines, as a substitute for the gas liquors now in use in bleaching.
1918 Gas Age 15 Mar. 273/1 In this column the gas liquor, which is recovered during cooling of the gas, is distilled.
2003 C. Higman & M. van der Burght Gasification 90 Most of the high-boiling hydrocarbons and dust carried over from the reactor are condensed and/or washed out with gas liquor.
gas log n. a type of gas fire resembling a burning log or arrangement of logs.
ΚΠ
1871 Christian Union 26 Apr. 258/4 (advt.) Warm air furnaces, ranges, French gas logs, fire screens, etc.
1903 A. H. Joline Diversions of Bk.-lover 24 I feel a peculiar sense of discomfort in the presence of a gas-log, for it is much more obtrusive than the..self-assertive radiator. A gas log is an imitation.
1960 Changing Times Jan. 39/1 Must they kid themselves with a false-front fireplace with no flue, a plug-in electric fire or a gas log.
2000 J. Knuth Fireplace Decorating & Planning Ideas 144/2 Gas logs are a low-cost option for converting a wood-burning fireplace to natural gas. These realistic replicas of wood fires feature ceramic logs.
gas main n. a main pipe for supplying gas to buildings; cf. main n.1 8.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > fuel > gas or types of gas > [noun] > storage of gas > fittings
gas main1819
gas fitting1821
exhauster1841
bypass1848
gas line1879
1819 F. Accum Descr. Manuf. Coal Gas 243 Gas mains laid in public streets.
1909 Chatterbox 70/2 The engineer of the subterranean railways had endless difficulties to encounter among the network of water-pipes, gas-mains, and sewers.
2010 Sun (Nexis) 12 June 13 Scotland Gas Networks sealed the area..after a digger ruptured an underground gas main.
gas maker n. a person who or (later) company that manufactures gas.
ΚΠ
1800 Exeter Flying-post 27 Feb. Mr. Innes, Gas-Maker.
1905 Pop. Mech. Feb. 227/2 There is no shoveling of coal and the most difficult work the gas maker does is to open and close a valve.
2000 Evening News (Edinb.) (Nexis) 8 Aug. us1 BOC shares have shed 26 per cent this year, the worst performance among the world's top five gas makers.
gas mantle n. now chiefly historical = mantle n. 16b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > artificial light defined by light-source > [noun] > gaslight or lamp > parts of > gas-burner > gas mantle
mantle1887
gas mantle1895
1895 Electr. Engineer 22 Nov. 579/2 This set the fan in rapid motion, causing the air to ascend through the gas mantle like a blow-pipe.
1909 H. G. Wells Tono-Bungay (U.K. ed.) iii. i. 282 The cerium and thorium alone were worth the money he extracted for the gas-mantles then in vogue.
2005 Y. Bell Edwardian Home 28 Gas had reached most homes by the turn of the century and gas mantles provided much of the lighting.
gasmasked adj. wearing a gas mask.
ΚΠ
1915 Xenia (Ohio) Daily Gaz. 15 July 4/1 The ghostly line of gas-masked Germans sprang forward.
1940 War Illustr. 5 Jan. 560 The gas-masked gun crew are ready for all eventualities.
2004 B. DeSmedt Singularity (2005) 406 He raised his head in time to see a gasmasked figure marching toward him through the choking fumes.
gas meter n. a device for indicating the quantity of gas used in a building.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > measurement > measuring instrument > [noun] > instrument measuring or recording automatically > specific
gas meter1815
wet meterc1865
slot-meter1899
motor meter1903
1815 Brit. Patent 3968 (1856) 3 Another part of my Invention, is a guage [sic] or rotative gas-meter.
1906 M. H. Baillie-Scott Houses & Gardens xl. 116 Rows of little houses..each with its gas-meter under the stairs.
2010 Times (Nexis) 30 Jan. 82 British Gas broke down the door and removed the gas meter, claiming the bill had not been paid for more than two years.
gas microscope n. now historical a microscope in which the object is illuminated by limelight; = oxyhydrogen microscope n. at oxyhydrogen n. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical instruments > magnification or magnifying instruments > [noun] > microscope > other microscopes
lucernal microscope1743
gas microscope1833
oxyhydrogen microscope1839
binocular1871
orthostereoscope1892
pseudostereoscope1892
ultramicroscope1906
acoustic microscope1910
hodoscope1915
optical microscope1928
light microscope1934
comparison microscope1940
phase microscope1946
stereomicroscope1962
1833 Lancet 2 Mar. 717/1 Expose the web of a frog in the usual manner, under the glass of the gas microscope, so as to exhibit the circulation of the blood.
1871 tr. H. Schellen Spectrum Anal. vi. 20 The oxyhydrogen light and the magnesium light are employed..in the gas microscope.
2003 W. Tobin Life & Sci. Léon Foucault iv. 50 Donné..no doubt also lent the chalk, jets and other parts from his gas microscope.
gas office n. the office of a gas company.
ΚΠ
1808 Christian Observer Feb. 131/2 The posts communicate with a pipe under the pavement fed with gas from Mr. Winsor's gas office.
1882 ‘M. Twain’ Stolen White Elephant 22 Gas office broken open here during night.
1988 Guardian 17 Aug. 15 Suggest I ring gas office in the South East where former husband lives.
gas officer n. (a) an official employed by a gas company; (b) (in the First World War (1914–18)) an officer responsible for educating soldiers about gas attacks and for organizing precautionary measures against them.
ΚΠ
1853 Daily News 2 Nov. 3/5 Would the gas officers afford every facility to the inspectors of the court to trace the nuisance to its source?
1915 North-China Herald 20 Nov. 553/3 He was gas officer in one of our trenches in the recent fight.
1916 A. Bennett Jrnl. 1 June (1932) II. 164 The ‘gas officer’ came down yesterday to inspect gas-helmet efficiency of troops.
1970 Bridgeport (Connecticut) Telegram 25 June 16/1 (headline) Gas officer nominated.
2003 S. L. Harris Harlem's Hell Fighters xiii. 186 Because he was to be the regiment's gas officer, he was learning about this deadly weapon.
gas oil n. [so called because a fraction of this oil was added to fuel gases to increase their calorific value] a fuel oil distilled from petroleum which is intermediate in viscosity and boiling point between paraffin oil and lubricating oils.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > extracted or refined oil > [noun] > distilled or refined mineral oils
oil of amber1559
neftec1575
light oil1761
white oil1763
white spirit1832
eupione1838
gas oil1839
heavy oil1849
petroleum ether1851
asboline1863
hydrocarbon oil1864
solar oil1864
mineral spirits1875
blown oil1887
phenoloid1900
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 547 Some of the vapor of this gas-oil is mixed with the olefiant gas in the general products of decomposition; in consequence of which they are sometimes richer in carbon than even olefiant gas, and have a higher illuminating power.
1901 Jrnl. Soc. Chem. Industry Dec. 1257/1 Crude oil is now used instead of gas oil in the making of gas.
1921 Ohio Gas & Oil Men's Jrnl. Dec. 19 The price of gas oil rose to unheard of figures, the average price on the Atlantic Seaboard running from 12c to 15c per gallon.
2000 N.Y. Times 6 Apr. a12/4 The smuggled Iraqi oil—most of it gas oil, similar to diesel fuel—went to a variety of countries including Iran.
gas-operated adj. fuelled or operated by gas; esp. (of an autoloading gun) using the force of the gas from a fired cartridge to activate the autoloading mechanism.
ΚΠ
1891 U.S. Patent 457,316 4/1 Every convenience is afforded in this one gas-operated structure for doing all kinds of cooking or heating.
1893 J. M. Browning U.S. Patent 502,549 1 (heading) Gas-operated breech-loading gun.
1954 Billboard 13 Feb. 5/2 Dr. Lee De Forest..predicted this week that a gas-operated TV set would soon be a reality.
2010 N. Hahn in D. Shideler Gun Digest 2011 69/1 What we have today among autoloading shotguns is the inertia-driven and the long-recoiled shotguns of Benelli and Franchi. All the rest are gas-operated.
gas pendant n. now chiefly historical a pendant (pendant n. 5d) in which the combustion of gas is used as a source of light.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > artificial light defined by light-source > [noun] > gaslight or lamp > parts of > gas-burner > pipe or frame supporting
gas chandelier1816
gas pendant1833
gas bracket1835
gasolier1839
pendant1858
bracket1867
1833 Leeds Mercury 23 Mar. Gas apparatus, gas pipes, lamps, &c... Gas pendants, pillars, brackets, &c. in great variety.
1909 H. G. Wells Tono-Bungay ii. vi. 165 The mantel, the cornice, the gas pendant were larger and finer than the sort of thing I had grown accustomed to in London.
2007 Cornishman (Nexis) 15 Nov. 30 Ten side windows..let in good natural light but ten gas pendants allowed for illumination.
gas-permeable adj. permitting the passage of gases; spec. (of a contact lens) allowing the diffusion of oxygen and carbon dioxide into and out of the cornea.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > ophthalmology or optometry > aids to defective vision > [adjective] > types of contact lens
soft1964
gas-permeable1969
1914 Chem. Abstr. 8 2243 Mixtures of combustible and combustion-supporting gases, are burned in a gas-permeable mass consisting of conductors of the 2nd class.
1969 Amer. Jrnl. Optometry 46 4 A gas-permeable contact lens could prevent this build-up of carbon dioxide in the cornea.
2004 New Scientist 24 Apr. 14/3 Rigid gas-permeable contact lenses flatten the central region of the cornea, correcting moderate myopia.
gas plasma n. Physics an ionized gas containing free electrons and positive ions; a plasma.
ΚΠ
1933 Wireless Engin. 10 28/1 On the Absorption of the Debye-Falkenhagen relaxation force in a neutral, partially ionised gas—plasma, Kennelly-Heaviside layer.
1971 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 324 183 In this gas plasma some of the molecules are excited, dissociated and ionized so that free electrons..are present.
2004 Esquire Apr. 42/2 It is really hard..to compare gas-plasma televisions..while surrounded by 129,000 people.
gas plate n. †(a) a metal disc in a gas ignition system which is rotated in order to produce sparks (obsolete rare); (b) Gunnery a metal disc in some artillery guns which receives the direct force of the gas produced in firing (now rare); (c) a hotplate (hotplate n. 1a) for cooking in which the combustion of gas is used as a source of heat.
ΚΠ
1861 U.S. Patent Addit. Improvem. No. 318 2 It is only necessary to turn the gas cocks m m open and give the gas plate f a few turns by the crank n, and the gas will be ignited by the sparks.
1879 F. V. Greene Rep. Russ. Army 1877–8 62 The breech-loading apparatus consisted of a solid bronze prismatic wedge, a..gas plate, e.
1901 S. Suzuki tr. Surg. & Med. Hist. Naval War Japan & China 1894–5 80 T. Ishii..was in the tower of the bow-gun and was handing the gas-plate, which was just pulled out, to No. 6 man of the gun.
1901 Hamilton (Ohio) Republican-News 3 May 7/3 (advt.) The best 3 burner gas plate stove $300.
1933 Rotarian Nov. 27/1 Breakfast in his room over a gas-plate, lunch alone at the automat.
2009 West Austral. (Perth) (Nexis) 5 Dec. 17 The cork-tiled country kitchen, recently upgraded and featuring a walk-in pantry, underbench oven with five-burner gas plate and a dishwasher.
gas pliers n. a type of household pliers originally intended for use in tightening gas fittings, with concave jaws suited to gripping pipes.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > clutching or gripping equipment > [noun] > for grasping pipes or rods
pipe tongs1795
finger grip1820
gas pliers1860
filing-block1874
pipe grab1875
spider1920
1860 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 6 Apr. 337/1 The spring bearings are in halves and notched, similarly to gas-pliers.
1928 Pop. Sci. Oct. 133/1 The plug is removed from its upper end (a pair of gas pliers may be helpful for this purpose).
2001 C. H. Wendel Encycl. Antique Tools & Machinery 164/2 Gas pliers were ostensibly intended for tightening gas fittings, but found their way to other crafts needing to hold or tighten bolts, pipes, and other items.
gas poker n. now chiefly historical a perforated hollow poker through which gas is made to flow, which when ignited provides flame for kindling a fire.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > fuel > material for igniting > [noun] > mechanical device
fire stickc1300
flint-mill1757
fire piston1846
gas poker1855
gas lighter1856
fire drill1861
fire-churn1863
lighter1875
hand drill1891
fire-plough1893
electric wand1898
wax jack1937
1855 Mechanics' Mag. 7 July 17/1 The fire may be lighted in the ordinary way, or by means of a gas-poker, described by the inventor, and consisting of a hollow poker, perforated at the end, and connected with a flexible tube, through which gas is supplied.
1940 H. Brighouse in Best One-act Plays 1940 49 It's a gas-poker... You light it and put it under the coals.
2006 North Devon Jrnl. (Nexis) 16 Nov. 19 The gas poker was almost certainly terribly unsafe, as it was attached directly to the mains supply by some kind of flexible black piping.
gas producer n. (a) a device which produces gas; esp. = producer n. 3 (now chiefly historical); (b) an organization which produces or supplies gas.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > equipment for making other articles > [noun] > gas-making equipment
gas producer1841
gasifier1857
Siemens producer1866
producer1890
1841 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 25 Aug. All the invention consists in two large gas producers, the same as Tillorier's.
1867 Rep. Pract. Cases State N.Y. 2 38 If the gas producers will not supply it, this year, the inconvenience will be one which must be borne.
1907 J. E. Dowson & A. T. Larter Producer Gas (ed. 2) iv. 62 The function of a gas producer is to convert the solid fuel into a combustible gas.
2002 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 23 May 16 When the war ended and he saw three gas producers left over in a yard in Box Hill, he bought them rather than see them go to the tip.
2008 Washington Post (Nexis) 11 June d2 Most of Hunt's wells are in East Texas and Louisiana, where XTO is a leading gas producer.
gas purifier n. Chemistry a device for purifying gas, in which the gas is made to flow over a substance which absorbs impurities from it.
ΚΠ
1819 W. T. Brande Man. Chem. Introd. p. xiv The gas purifiers also stand in this recess.
1902 F. Dye Lighting by Acetylene iv. 129 The small tube in the lamp contains a gas purifier.
2009 Zacks Investm. Res. (Nexis) Dec. The steel processing complex is equipped with an effective gas purifier.
gas range n. a large cooking stove (see range n.1 5a) in which the combustion of gas is used as a source of heat.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > equipment for food preparation > stove or cooker > [noun]
range1423
buccan1611
fire-range1668
stew-stove1727
screw-range1772
stew-hole1780
cooking stove1796
range stove1803
cooking range1805
cookstove1820
kitchener1829
gas range1853
cooker1860
gas cooker1873
Soyer's stove1878
hay-box1885
blazer1889
machine oven1890
paraffin stove1891
primus1893
electric cooker1894
electric range1894
Yukon stove1898
fireless cooker1904
picnic stove1910
pressure stove1914
Tommy cooker1915
rangette1922
Aga1931
barbecue1931
Rayburn1947
sigri1949
jiko1973
1853 Mechanics' Mag. 4 June 455/2 The gas-range was a model on a large scale, and an elegant piece of workmanship.
1937 Life 1 Nov. 12/1 (advt.) Unexpected company holds no terrors for me since I've got a modern gas range.
2003 Lancs. Life Mar. 23/3 Ultra-smart quarry-tiled kitchens are superbly equipped with gas ranges, [etc.].
gas register n. †(a) a device for indicating and recording the pressure or presence of gas (obsolete); (b) a device for recording the amount of gas used in a building; a gas meter (now rare).
ΚΠ
1828 Mechanics' Mag. 18 Oct. 179/2 The patent rain-gauge and Mr. Crosley's gas register.
1867 Rep. before Joint. Comm. City Council of Boston upon Subj. of Gas 232 How long would it take to teach any man to read his gas register or his meter?
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. II. 954/1 Gas-register, an instrument by which the pressure of gas is indicated and recorded.
1909 Proc. Nat. Gas Assoc. Amer. 1906–9 65 From the meter repair shop, take them to the gas register, and show them that a continuous reading is taken.
gas regulator n. a device for controlling the flow of gas, now esp. in a gun; cf. gas governor n.
ΚΠ
1825 Philos. Mag. 65 152 To Samuel Crosley, of Cottage Lane, City Road, Middlesex, for an improvement in the construction of gas regulators or governors.—1st Feb.—6 months.
1920 Sci. Amer. Nov. 273/2 Installing gas regulators which would supply gas at a low and uniform terminal pressure.
2003 S. Crawford 21st Cent. Small Arms 7 This gun's gas regulator has two action settings for firing, in order to ensure proper function under all environmental conditions.
gas retort n. now chiefly historical a container in which coal or other material is heated in order to manufacture gas.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > equipment for making other articles > [noun] > gas-making equipment > parts of
condensator1804
condenser1809
gas retort1818
seal1853
seal-cup1872
seal-pipe1875
train1925
1818 Q. Jrnl. Sci. & Arts Oct. 71 (heading) Mr. Cawood on gas retorts.
1895 C. T. Davis Pract. Treat. Manuf. Brick, Tiles & Terra-cotta (ed. 3) 399 Fire-clay gas retorts have almost entirely replaced the old form of iron retorts.
1980 E. J. Connell & M. Ward in D. Fraser Hist. Mod. Leeds vi. 166 More typical of the town's earthenware industries, however, were..bricks and gas retorts.
gas ring n. (a) a gas burner comprising a series of gas jets arranged in a circle, typically forming part of a cooker or hob; cf. ring burner n. at ring n.1 Compounds 2a; (b) Firearms and Gunnery a ring-shaped gas check.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > heating or making hot > that which or one who heats > [noun] > a device for heating or warming > fuelled by gas > gas-burner > types of
cockspur burner1808
rose burner1820
batwing burner1828
gas ring1837
rosette1856
Bude-burner1875
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > parts and fittings of firearms > [noun] > breech > part to prevent escape of gas
gas check1856
Broadwell ring1867
gas ring1880
1837 Mechanics' Mag. 8 Apr. 7/1 The cost of the stove and pipe is under £2; gas ring and fixing about 15s.
1880 Daily Tel. 23 Dec. A gas ring at the joint has been found..to prevent the escape of the powder gases on discharge [of the gun].
1901 Westm. Gaz. 18 Dec. 1/3 You stirred them for five minutes on the gas-ring.
2010 Guardian (Nexis) 16 Oct. 74 Roast the aubergines over a barbecue or over the flames of a gas ring.
2010 P. Sweeney Gun Digest Bk. AR-15 III. vi. 79/2 The bolt does not have gas rings (doesn't need them, no gas).
gas sand n. Geology (chiefly U.S.) a stratum of sand or soft sandstone containing deposits of natural gas, esp. in amounts that support commercial exploitation.
ΚΠ
1879 H. M. Chance 2nd Geol. Surv. Pennsylvania: Rep. Progress V. i. vi. 55 Along the Third Sand Belt, the Fourth Sand is characteristically a ‘gas sand’.
1920 T. O. Bosworth Geol. Mid Continent Oilfields 244 At Ponca..there was a gas sand in which some wells had a production of 7 million cubic feet per day.
2002 C. Moncrief Wildcatters iii. 52 Back in Wyoming, we had encountered massive gas sands at 18,000 feet.
gas service n. (a) the apparatus by which gas is supplied to a building or area, gas fittings; (b) the provision of gas to customers, gas supply.
ΚΠ
1844 Rep. Commissioners of State of Large Towns & Populous Districts II. 126 Wrought iron, of the same description as that used for gas services.
1892 H. S. Carhart & H. N. Chute Elements of Physics vi. 284 Attach a rose gas-burner to a metal pipe.., and connect it to the gas service with a rubber tube.
1916 Decisions Railroad Comm. Calif. 9 522 All testified in effect that the gas service of the Midland corporation was most unsatisfactory.
2010 C. Berens Redeveloping Industr. Sites i. 11 Worker housing..had cross-ventilation, gas service, and indoor plumbing among its amenities.
gas shell n. †(a) a container for holding gas at pressure (obsolete rare); (b) an artillery shell which releases poison gas upon bursting (now chiefly historical).
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > missile > ammunition for firearms > [noun] > bullet or shell > shell > smoke or gas shell
smoke-ball1753
stink-ball1753
gas shell1915
tear-shell1916
smoke shell1919
1890 U.S. Patent 424,969 2/1 In place of the auxiliary powder-chamber H, the air or gas shell L may be placed between sabots E and F.
1915 D. O. Barnett Let. 4 July in In Happy Memory 204 Coming through a district where they'd been using gas-shells.
1939 Times 22 Dec. 6/4 Investigate the German charge that the British warships used gas-shells in their battle with the German warship.
2010 M. Harrison Med. War ii. 107 The general practice of the Germans was to employ a variety of different gas shells simultaneously.
gas show n. an escape of natural gas from underground deposits, thought to indicate the presence of oil; cf. show n.1 12a.
ΚΠ
1880 H. M. Chance Geol. Clarion County 116 First sand (gas show).
1920 Admin. Rep. State Geologist 1919 (Tennessee Geol. Surv.) 44 He reset the casing in one well above the first gas show.
1991 Offshore Engineer Sept. 18 (advt.) Very sensitive detection of very low gas shows (from 5ppm).
gas spectrum n. Physics a spectrum of light emitted or absorbed by a gas.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > light > chromatism > [noun] > spectrum > types of
Fraunhofer spectrum1837
gas spectrum1859
interference spectrum1860
flame spectrum1862
absorption spectrum1864
fluorescence spectrum1867
band spectrum1869
comparison spectrum1877
infra-red1881
emission spectrum1888
X-ray spectrum1910
1859 London, Edinb. & Dublin Philos. Mag. 4th Ser. 18 12 Nevertheless it seemed to me desirable for our gas-spectra, to support the above law by a direct experiment.
1921 W. T. Hall tr. F. P. Treadwell Anal. Chem. I. ii. 130 To examine gas spectra, small Geissler tubes are used which contain the gas to be detected in a dilute condition.
2000 S. P. Love et al. in P. J. Mouginis-Mark et al. Remote Sensing Active Volcanism 121/1 When the background is cooler than the gas, the gas spectrum in the absence of sunlight appears in emission.
gas spurt n. Geology rare a brief jet or stream of gas escaping through a layer of ice, rock, etc.; a deposit of material left by such escaping gas.
ΚΠ
1879 Encycl. Brit. X. 294/1 Gas-spurts.—The surfaces of some strata, usually of a dark colour and containing organic matter, may be observed to be raised into little heaps of various indefinite shapes.
1896 Science 7 Feb. 203/1 Gas spurts break out after a period of continued cold, and the surface of the ice becomes discolored with the products urged up by the escaping gas.
2002 Moscow News (Nexis) 13 Mar. A dramatic increase in global warming..heating up certain sections of polar lands with hydrocarbon, in particular natural gas, deposits. Resultant gas spurts will have potential to change the atmospheric spectrum.
gas stock n. Stock Market stock held in a gas company (also as a count noun).
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > stocks, shares, or bonds > [noun] > stock > types of
joint stock1615
fancya1652
water stock1675
Bank stock1694
India stock1702
government stock1734
inscription1800
gas stock1820
railway stock1836
common stock1852
floater1871
blue chip1874
trunks1892
traction1896
omnium1902
mummy1903
motors1908
rollover1947
blue-chipper1953
red chip1968
large-cap1982
small cap1984
1820 Glasgow Herald 6 Oct. (advt.) Valuable property in George and Portland Streets, ground rent and share of gas stock.
1895 Daily News 19 July 9/1 Several gas stocks have improved.
2005 G. W. Cox & M. D. McCubbins Setting Agenda ix. 205 The values of oil and gas stocks increased dramatically, while renewable-energy stocks fell sharply.
gas stoker n. now historical a person employed to stoke a gas retort.
ΚΠ
1840 London Tee-total Mag. Oct. 329/1 We have men by hundreds and thousands, in the most laborious employment; such as gas-stokers, anchor smiths, iron-founders,..farriers, &c.
1889 Daily News 5 Dec. 6/2 Threatened strike of gas stokers.
1991 K. Laybourn Brit. Trade Unionism 53 This difficulty was exposed in the case of the London gas stokers in 1872.
gas-stoking n. the action or work of stoking a gas retort.
ΚΠ
1873 Van Nostrand's Eclectic Engin. Mag. July 89 The exhausting and demoralizing nature of the work of gas stoking.
1889 Times (Weekly ed.) 13 Dec. 3/2 To supply 1,000 soldiers to be taught gas-stoking.
1998 D. Thom Nice Girls & Rude Girls (2000) viii. 165 Married women..appear to have predominated in heavy trades and outdoor work: chemicals, gas-stoking, navvying, agricultural labour and municipal services.
gas storage n. (a) the storage of gas; (b) the preservation of food (esp. fruit or vegetables) in carbon dioxide or other gas.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preserving or pickling > [noun] > preserving by gas
gas storage1932
1869 Dundee Courier & Argus 20 Mar. I was surprised to see so much gas storage.
1932 Jrnl. Soc. Chem. Industry: Trans. & Communications 51 116 (title) Gas storage of pork and bacon.
1959 Boys' Life Dec. 26/2 The papers have been full of plenty of troubles recently: tornadoes, floods, blowing up of explosives and gas storage tanks.
1992 F. A. Paine & H. Y. Paine Handbk. Food Packaging (ed. 2) viii. 240 Generally the gas storage of vegetables is less well developed than that of fruit.
2008 Guardian (Nexis) 11 June 28 Gas storage has become an important part of energy policy as the UK becomes increasingly dependent on imports.
gas-stored adj. (esp. of fruit) preserved in carbon dioxide or other gas.
ΚΠ
1921 Rep. Food Investig. Board 1920 18 Samples of cold-stored and gas-stored apples and pears and of jams made from frozen fruit were exhibited.
1995 Evening Standard (Nexis) 3 Oct. 25 A far better bite than the gas-stored Worcester apple I'd wearily masticated the previous evening.
gas stove n. a stove in which the combustion of gas is used as a source of heat.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > heating or making hot > that which or one who heats > [noun] > a device for heating or warming > devices for heating buildings, rooms, etc. > stove > types of stove
bath-stove1591
pech1591
stewpot1688
kitchen range1733
cockle1775
copper-hole1785
Franklin stove1787
kitchen stove1795
gas stove1818
calefactor1831
thermometer-stove1838
Vesta1843
airtight1844
ship-hearth1858
base-burner1861
wood-stove1875
box1878
tortoise1884
wood-burner1901
Quebec heater1903
pot belly1920
cosy stove1926–7
oil stove1934
paraffin stove1995
1818 Monthly Mag. June 391/2 It may..be interesting to some of your readers to learn, that we have perfected our patent gas-stove.
1919 V. Woolf Night & Day x. 128 They sat..talking together over the gas-stove in Ralph's bedroom.
2009 N.Y. Mag. 18 May 91/1 Her grandparents have two eyes of the gas stove burning to drive away the apartment's chill.
gas tail n. Astronomy a tail of ionized gas associated with a celestial object; esp. the ion tail of a comet.
ΚΠ
1956 Vistas in Astron. 2 1001 The gegenschein is a quite different phenomenon, namely the emission by a gas tail given off by the Earth.
1983 Amer. Scientist 71 411/3 Cometary happenings (split nuclei, detachments, striations, motions of knots in gas tails, antitails, etc.).
2001 M. D. Reynolds Falling Stars i. 7 In 1997 Comet Hale-Bopp..exhibited both a spectacular blue gas tail and a yellow dust tail.
gas tap n. a tap for controlling the flow of gas from a pipe.
ΚΠ
1830 Sheffield Independent 30 Jan. The congregation..were involved in darkness for a short time. Some mischievous person turned the gas tap which is placed behind the entrance door.
1908 A. Bennett Old Wives' Tale v. 221 ‘Now quick, before I turn the gas out!’ he admonished, his hand on the gas-tap.
2010 Times Educ. Suppl. (Nexis) 10 Dec. 12 All around the room, gas taps are turned, bunsens begin to roar and little evaporating basins of salt water soon start to bubble.
gas tar n. now chiefly historical coal tar produced in the manufacture of coal gas.
ΚΠ
1821 Lit. Chron. & Weekly Rev. 1 Sept. 557/3 Gas tar, mixed with yellow ochre, makes an invisible green paint, very useful for preserving coarse woodwork.
1920 P. J. Fryer Insect Pests & Fungus Dis. Fruit & Hops xix. 503 Cut out cankers where these are slight, or dress wounds with gas-tar, or other protectant.
2004 J. Emsley Vanity, Vitality, & Virility (2006) vi. 203 The so-called gas tar was ideal for road-building.
gas-tar v. now rare transitive to coat or paint with gas tar.
ΚΠ
1846 Floricultural Cabinet July 185 I consider this plan of gas-tarring walks a great hit.
1862 Farmer's Mag. July 16/1 The enemy may be kept at bay by gas-tarring a wooden house often enough.
1902 L. Wright New Bk. Poultry viii. 136/2 The houses are gas-tarred every year, which he states keeps away the foxes.
gas thermometer n. Physics (now chiefly historical) a thermometer in which the change of volume or pressure of a column of gas is used to measure temperature.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > measurement of temperature > [noun] > instrument > other specific instruments
air thermometer1701
water thermometer1725
gas thermometer1837
geothermometer1838
nepheloscope1844
thanatometer1860
resistance thermometer1861
reversing thermometer1878
telethermometer1880
thermocouple1890
thermo-electroscope1895
thermodynamometer1909
ebulliometer1933
1837 Penny Cycl. IX. 327/2 It appears that at much higher temperatures the degrees of the mercurial and gas thermometers no longer correspond.
1911 C. R. Darling Pyrometry ii. 15 The gas thermometer is totally unsuited for use in workshops or laboratories when a rapid determination of a high temperature is required.
1999 T. Shachtman Absolute Zero & Conquest of Cold (2000) 149 Olszewski used a gas thermometer for his readings, while Dewar used indirect measuring instruments.
gas thread n. a type of screw thread having a relatively fine pitch, used on metal tubes.
ΚΠ
1851 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 12 p. xxv Such cock to have the usual gas thread for the purpose of taking steam from the boiler.
1902 P. Marshall Metal Working Tools 63 For pipes and tubes a special thread termed a gas thread is employed.
1966 P. F. Lye Metalwork Theory: Bk. 2 46 Another thread which has a Whitworth thread form is called the British Standard Pipe (B.S.P.). This is sometimes called Gas Thread and it is used only on pipes.
2004 Herald Express (Torquay) (Nexis) 30 July 24 At their last meeting the theme was screw cutting with a look at a huge array of threads including Whitworth, metric, BA, BSF and even electrician and gas threads BSP.
gas trap n. a device for trapping gas; spec. = trap n.1 8a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > sanitation > provision of sewers > [noun] > sewer > trap
stink-trap1782
gas trap1818
stench-trap1833
trap1833
smell-trap1851
bottle trap1876
trapping1890
reflux trap1892
1818 Morning Chron. 7 Feb. (advt.) Copper boiler and stand, three cast iron cylinders, fitted with copper tubes, copper gas trap, large quantity of copper and tin tubes.
1882 ‘M. Harland’ Eve's Daughters v. 81 Nature scorns the use of patent gas-traps.
1918 Gen. Electric Rev. 21 249/2 When gas comes with the flowing oil the two can be separated by a gas trap.
2008 Ecotoxicol. & Environmental Safety 71 611/2 The tube at the outflow of the vessel was connected to a gas trap containing 5mL of 1% sodium hydroxide to trap airborne cyanide.
gas tube n. a tube that carries gas; (also) an enclosed tube used for holding gas.
ΚΠ
1802 Morning Chron. 22 Sept. A spherical Balloon of green oiled silk..called a pilot Balloon, was brought into the ground, and the gas tubes were detached from the great Balloon, and fastened to this.
1890 B. S. Proctor Man. Pharmaceut. Testing 154 When the acid has been added and the cock closed, the gas tube may be shaken laterally.
1924 Pop. Sci. Nov. 69/3 When the torch is used upside down, the liquid tube automatically becomes the gas tube.
2000 Daily Mail 17 Jan. 32 John was standing on the gas tube, restricting the flow of the painkiller.
gas tubing n. tubing used for carrying gas.
ΚΠ
1828 Times 26 June 8/5 (advt.) A large quantity of cast iron pipe, various dimensions, wrought iron gas tubing, gas burners and fittings.
1956 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 22 Sept. 698/1 There was no defect in the gas-tubing or joints.
2008 Gloucestershire Echo (Nexis) 27 Aug. 16 Typical targets include..copper gas tubing and lightning conductors.
gas vacuole n. Botany a gas-containing vacuole found in certain bacteria and blue-green algae, thought to be involved in regulating buoyancy in water.
ΚΠ
1881–2 W. Saville-Kent Man. Infusoria II. 811 Contractile vesicles minute, variable in number, supplemented by a large non-contractile gas-vacuole, having a diameter of one-half that of the body.
1904 New Phytologist 3 108 There are two kinds of vacuoles; cell-sap vacuoles and gas vacuoles... The latter are found only in certain forms which float on the water surface.
2002 Paleobiology 28 152/1 After their death, planktonic cyanobacteria tend to sink to the bottom, following gas vacuole decay.
gas van n. (a) a railway wagon in which gas is stored (now rare); (b) a mobile gas chamber (chiefly gas chamber n. 2) (now chiefly historical).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > capital punishment > [noun] > place of > gas chamber
lethal chamber1884
gas chamber1945
gas oven1945
gas van1946
1877 Western Mail (Cardiff) 2 Feb. 5/1 Instead of the old unsightly and flickering oil lamps, the new plan uses gas made by Pinche's patent process, the reservoirs being in the gas vans.
1912 Railway News 28 Sept. 731/1 (table) Do. per vehicle (excluding brake vans, gas vans, acc. vans, &c).
1937 Times 21 Oct. 7/1 At the top of the yard stood a large black motor-van labelled ‘Home Office gas van’.
1946 Ann. Reg. 1945 185 Mass-murder by shooting, the gas-van or the crematorium.
2003 Central European Hist. 36 271 The gas vans of the Chelmno extermination camp.
gas war n. (a) fierce or aggressive competition between gas companies; a war or conflict concerning the manufacture or supply of gas; (b) a war in which poisonous gas is used as a weapon.
ΚΠ
1834 Liverpool Mercury 21 Feb. 64/4 The splendid specimen of paving..is inevitably doomed in a few months, after the breaking out of this Gas War to be in a like break-neck condition.
1918 Atlantic Monthly Aug. 273/1 Of the offensive side of this gas-war it is obvious that little can properly be made public.
1996 M. Perutz in N.Y. Rev. Bks. 20 June 34 Haber's part in the gas war certainly influenced Clara's suicide.
2009 Wall St. Jrnl. 13 Feb. a13/5 Russia's aggression against Georgia last August and its gas war with Ukraine this January have made the crisis only worse for the Russian people.
gas washer n. Chemistry a device for removing impurities from gas, esp. in an industrial process.
ΚΠ
1809 Athenæum 1 May 442 The inverted vessel, or gas-washer, two feet long and about one foot broad.
1917 Chem. Engineer 24 246/2 Passing the gas through a gas washer of one of the usual types, using the sulphate of iron solution as the washing liquid.
2000 A. Wier tr. G. Fellenberg Chem. Pollution ii. 56 In a gas washer, sulphur dioxide, ammonia and water produce ammonium sulphate.
gas water n. now rare water through which manufactured gas has been passed in order to remove impurities, esp. ammonia.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > water > [noun] > through which coal-gas has passed
gas water1821
1821 Morning Chron. 13 June The fish in the river had been gradually decreasing for some time, but now the increased discharge of gas water in the river promised to drive the fish out of it entirely.
1872 Friend 7 Oct. 52/3 The noxious odor of the gas-water is due to the presence of sulphur and ammonium compounds.
1911 Times 28 Nov. 3/3 The defendants had gas works in Charing and discharged their gas water into the Charing Brook.
gas-welded adj. welded by gas welding.
ΚΠ
1892 Electr. Engineer 22 Apr. 390/1 Messrs. Lloyd and Lloyd were the pioneers in the manufacture of gas-welded wrought-iron and steel tubes of large diameter.
1951 Archit. Rev. 110 394/2 The ring main is of cast iron; risers and supply pipes are of copper, gas-welded.
2003 Evening News (Edinb.) (Nexis) 16 Jan. 25 The birds are one-offs made from gas-welded mild steel with a cast-aluminium base.
gas welding n. a method of welding in which the combustion of a gas is used as a source of heat.
ΚΠ
1861 A. L. Holley Amer. & European Railway Pract. i. iv. 41 Gas-welding was long since proposed by Mr. W. B. Adams, of London.
1927 Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. 115 911 Gas welding has many applications, particularly to chrome-molybdenum steel.
2006 Press & Jrnl. (Aberdeen) (Nexis) 21 Aug. 3 Acetylene is commonly used for gas welding and cutting due to the high temperature of the flame.
gasworker n. a person employed in the production or supply of gas.
ΚΠ
1827 Atlas 21 Oct. 661/3 The wife of a gas-worker named Holland died a few days since, from a curious cause.
1889 Daily News 5 Dec. 5/2 We are probably on the eve of a strike of gas-workers in South London.
1951 E. Paul Springtime in Paris (U.K. ed.) v. 95 Gas workers were about to walk out, and hamstring home cooking to a certain extent.
2007 Kalgoorlie (W. Austral.) Miner (Nexis) 4 Oct. 1 The remains were discovered by gasworkers laying a pipe.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

gasn.2

Brit. /ɡas/, U.S. /ɡæs/
Origin: Formed within English, by clipping or shortening. Etymon: gasoline n.
Etymology: Shortened < gasoline n.
Chiefly North American (originally colloquial).
Gasoline, petrol.Petrol is the usual term outside North America.Recorded earliest in gas line n.2
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > fuel > chemical fuel > [noun] > liquid
naphthec1384
naphtha1543
paraffin1851
kerosene1854
octylene1857
shale-oil1857
coal oil1859
gasoline1863
octane1867
octene1868
octyne1877
gas1878
liquid fuel1889
petrol1895
mazut1897
white fuel1901
diesel oil1905
autogas1908
juice1909
sauce1918
power kerosene1919
petroil1921
ethyl1923
lox1923
kero1930
isooctane1932
high-octane1933
hi-octane1933
Calor1936
pool petrol1939
super1939
pool1940
derv1948
platformate1949
mixture1952
diesel1953
Mapp gas1962
gasohol1971
super unleaded1975
synoil1976
synjet1979
biodiesel1986
Orimulsion1987
1878 Eng. Mech. 11 Oct. 111/1 The two tanks may be named the wheel-chamber and the gas-holder respectively. In the former the gas line is kept up to a constant level.
1902 Horseless Age 2 July 3/3 In the use of the throttle it could be opened only just wide enough to give the gas necessary to do the work.
1911 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 22 Apr. 8/6 (advt.) Having installed a new portable gasoline wagon we can supply you with ‘gas’ in record time from our Central Garage.
1918 E. M. Roberts Flying Fighter xvi. 236 We were to land the machines [sc. aeroplanes] to be refilled with gas and oil.
1949 Our Industry (Anglo-Iranian Oil Co.) (ed. 2) 330 (Glossary) Gasoline..is the normal term in the U.S.A. to denote motor spirit (motor gasoline or just ‘gas’)... In the U.K. ‘gasoline’ sometimes denotes a petroleum spirit of lower distillation range than motor spirit.
1963 H. Garner in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories (1968) 2nd Ser. 36 He claimed he didn't have enough gas in his car to drive him to the hospital.
1996 F. Popcorn & L. Marigold Clicking ii. 210 Every time Lys has to fill up her hefty gray Ford Explorer, she invents new ways to speed up the long, boring process of standing there and hand-squeezing 20 gallons of gas into the tank.
2002 A. Proulx That Old Ace in Hole (2003) iii. 23 He stopped for gas,..got a dripping chile dog to eat.

Phrases

P1.
a. to step on (hit, etc.) the gas: to cause a motor vehicle to accelerate by depressing the accelerator pedal (frequently figurative or in figurative contexts); also to punch the gas at punch v.1 10c. Cf. to step on it at step v. Phrasal verbs 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > rate of motion > move at specific rate [verb (intransitive)] > increase speed
to go betc1386
to mend one's pace1592
quicken1617
echea1644
accelerate1661
swiften1839
to step on the gas1916
to pull one's finger out1919
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > driving or operating a vehicle > drive a vehicle [verb (intransitive)] > drive or operate a motor vehicle > accelerate or decelerate
accelerate1902
to open up1903
to open out1906
to step on the gas1916
to step on it (her)1923
to turn the wick up (or down)1948
to hit the floorboard1971
1916 H. L. Wilson Somewhere in Red Gap vii. 289 Once she'd tramped on the gas of a ninety-horsepower racer and socked him against a stone wall.
1919 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 14 May 10/6 Hack put his foot on the gas and started in pursuit.
1920 C. W. Hoffman in C. L. Gregory Condensed Course Motion Pict. Photogr. xxii. 322 Any suggestion to him that—‘He get a move on’, or ‘Step on the gas’.
1927 E. Huntington & L. F. Whitney Builders Amer. 329 The only question is whether we shall stubbornly keep our foot on the gas until there is a collision.
1929 Times 6 Nov. 15/4 The time may come when, to speed up the cause, he may tread on the gas with the best of them.
1955 L. P. Hartley Perfect Woman xxviii. 249 Something that can keep people going and make them feel their value, which..is what we want to feel—without stepping on the gas and running people down.
1963 Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) 18 Oct. 17/1 With more than a half mile to go, Lamb Chop slammed on the gas and roared away from the field.
1977 Field & Stream Sept. 125/3 If you hit the gas too hard when you're running directly into the wind and waves, an inflatable is inclined to..flip end over end.
1997 Tampa (Florida) Tribune (Nexis) 3 Jan. 6 The suspect slammed the gas as an officer started to take the keys out of his car.
2001 L. Wick Bamboo & Lace 237 ‘How are things going?’ Gabe sighed. ‘Well, all lights are green. I just don't know how to put my foot on the gas.’
b. Similarly with reference to deceleration: to take one's foot off the gas, to ease (up) off the gas, etc. Cf. also to run out of gas at run v. Phrasal verbs 2.
ΚΠ
1925 H. L. Foster Trop. Tramp with Tourists 42 My chauffeur turned off the gas..and lighted a cigarette.
1933 F. H. Lyon tr. A. Posse-Brázdová Rom. Roundabout viii. 111 The car had stopped when he took his foot off the gas.
1936 Daily Messenger (Canandaigua, N.Y.) 26 Feb. 8/1 Ease off the gas gradually, and apply the gas softly.
1965 F. Clune Journey to Kosciusko xvii. 136 My suggestion to road-hogs: Just step off the gas for a few moments when passing Australian historic high-spots.
1980 Billboard 6 Dec. 46/1 The group doesn't once let up off the gas as the songs all careen along like a speeding race car without brakes.
1988 Pop. Sci. July 74/3 I eased off the gas and decelerated the car to a steady 40mph from 60.
2006 Indiana (Pa.) Gaz. 1 Oct. c5/4 Cornerback Josh Kemp added a pair of touchdowns..and a fumble return even as the Vulcans..eased off the gas in the second half.
P2. North American. to give it (also her) the gas: to cause a motor vehicle or aircraft to accelerate; to put on speed. Also occasionally figurative.
ΚΠ
1919 Proc. 50th Session National Convent. Insurance Commissioners 157 Yelps, whoops, and the exultant cry of Monahan in the lead; ‘Give her the gas, Kid! I'll be foyst to the bahn!’
1932 Atlantic Monthly Mar. 314/1 The old Ford rocked and rattled as I gave it the gas.
1962 Winnipeg Free Press 17 Apr. 4 (advt.) Give her the gas! Feel that satisfying push in the small of your back. This is Corvair's own special brand of excitement.
2008 P. Sampras Champion's Mind vi. 133 I didn't want to take time off; I wanted to give it the gas, so I just pushed on.
2008 I. Doig Eleventh Man (2009) v. 144 Jake lined the lightened plane up with the waiting runway and gave it the gas.

Compounds

C1.
a. General attributive.
ΚΠ
1906 Horseless Age 9 May 667/3 The writer must confess that he would be much puzzled..as to which type of car to purchase, steam or gasoline, to say nothing of the difficulty in making a choice among the many light runabout gas cars now on the market.
1915 Elyria (Ohio) Evening Telegram 10 Sept. 1/4 The gas price took an upward shoot one half cent on the gallon.
1919 Decatur (Illinois) Rev. 30 Mar. 19/3 (advt.) The final test of an automobile is the way it takes you over the ground. Not merely how fast it goes.., nor how economically from the standpoint of gas consumption.
1929 Boys' Life Aug. 41/2 Art stood up in the rear cockpit, and started throwing out empty gas cans.
1943 Pop. Mech. Nov. 115/1 (heading) More miles from your gas coupons.
1955 Jet 3 Mar. 23 An attractive Chicago wife..ended her life in a garage by inhaling gas fumes from a car.
1965 Flying Mag. Mar. 57/1 Coralling a nearby horse he galloped bareback to and from a gasoline station several miles away, loaded with gas cans on the return journey.
1979 Pop. Sci. July 39/1 RV travel really was adventurous—and with gas prices at 35 cents per gallon it was cheap, too.
1986 Toronto Star (Nexis) 13 June f16 He offered me, as a customer relations gesture, $25 in gas coupons.
1990 E. A. Goldstein & M. A. Izeman N.Y. Environment Bk. 117 Regulations aimed at reducing emissions during transfers of gasoline from gas tanker trucks to service station tanks.
2009 B. Weltman J. K. Lasser's Guide for Tough Times 149 Restrict business driving where possible to cut gas costs.
b.
gas rationing n. North American
ΚΠ
1920 Clearfield (Pa.) Progress 23 July 1/1 (headline) Sunday ‘joy riding’ must be cut out or ‘gas rationing’ will be in order.
1951 in M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 116/1 You willingly put up with gas rationing.
2008 B. Walters Audition (2009) 406 The 1979 energy crisis that resulted in gas rationing and long lines at the pumps.
C2.
gas bar n. Canadian a petrol station, esp. one without a garage for service or repairs, and having only basic facilities, as pumps and a kiosk.
ΚΠ
1970 Winnipeg Free Press 9 July 31/6 (advt.) Gasoline attendants for opening of new gas bar.
1993 P. Richardson & B. Richardson Great Careers for People interested in how Things Work 9/1 Get a job at a service station. You'll learn more if you work at a garage where cars are repaired, rather than at a gas bar.
2004 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 1 Sept. a18/6 Everyone who filled up at the Co-op gas bar where he worked got more than gas; they got conversation.
gas boat n. North American a boat powered by a petrol engine.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > mechanically propelled vessels > [noun] > motor vessel > using specific fuel
naphtha launch1887
oil burner1902
gas boat1903
oiler1911
1903 Marine Engin. Dec. 611/1 I think we would do more toward the advancement of the gas boat than perhaps any other thing that could be done at the present time.
1959 Native Voice (Vancouver) Jan. 2/5 Chief Assu had four fine sons, each of whom he set up with a house and gas boat.
1999 G. Buehler Troller Yacht Bk. ix. 95 Don't use tanks with inside galvanizing; this is common in older gas boats and, with gasoline, lasts forever.
gas buggy n. North American (now chiefly archaic and historical) a motor car, esp. one that runs on petrol or diesel; cf. gasoline buggy n. at gasoline n. Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1901 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 3 June 2/4 The gas buggy, with its impudent snort and convulsive chortles.
1950 Pop. Mech. Mar. 88/1 (headline) Japan electrifies the gas buggy.
1994 I. Stangoe Cariboo-Chilcotin 50 When the horse gave way to snorting gas buggies, it ushered in a new era in transportation.
2004 Windsor (Ontario) Star (Nexis) 20 Apr. b1 Hybrids will soon be involved in motor sports—either on their own against the gas buggies, where they would have a fuel advantage, or in groups against each other.
gas cap n. North American = petrol cap n. (b) at petrol n. Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1920 Evening Independent (Masillon, Ohio) 9 Nov. 5/2 (advt.) Ford radiator caps; regular price 25c, now 15c; Ford gas caps, regular price 20c, now 15c.
1948 D. Elser Special Guest 16 When the attendant leaned over to take the gas cap off the car, one of them stuck a gun in his back.
2007 T. Martin How to use Automotive Diagnostic Scanners 152 How many times have you pulled into a gas station and found a gas cap on top of a pump? On many newer vehicles, the gas cap is attached to the filler spout.
gas filler n. North American the opening or pipe leading to the fuel tank of a motor vehicle.
ΚΠ
1918 Motor Age 3 Jan. 90/1 Other changes consist of..gage on gas filler, running board without apron, 6-in. frame and extra wheel on the rear.
1953 Pampa (Texas) News 19 Jan. 8/1 The gas filler is under the hinged cover of the right taillight.
2006 T. Deitz Windmaster's Bane 28 He grinned, unhitched the nozzle, and inserted it into the gas filler, drumming his fingers on the deck lid as he watched the numbers loaf by.
gas-guzzler n. colloquial (originally U.S.) a motor vehicle, esp. a large car, characterized by high fuel consumption; (also) a person who drives such a vehicle.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > [noun] > motor vehicle > using large amounts of oil or petrol
gas-guzzler1928
oil burner1938
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > driving or operating a vehicle > driver or operator of vehicle > [noun] > driver of motor vehicle > driver of other types of motor vehicle
vanner1893
hot rod1943
hot rodder1947
stroker1948
low rider1966
stocker1976
gas-guzzler1977
1928 Kingsport (Tennessee) Times 9 July 4/3 Sign on the rear of antique gas guzzler: Have some respect for your elders.
1977 TV Guide (U.S.) 17 Sept. 70/2 Who really was off the beam..he..or I, the gas-guzzler?
1985 Washington Post 6 Nov. f1/3 The big American family sedan may be a gas-guzzler. But it can also be an insurance bargain.
2001 C. Glazebrook Madolescents 73 Jesus, how does Ray feed a family and run that gas-guzzler on his measly salary?
gas-guzzling adj. colloquial (originally U.S.) (esp. of a car) that consumes a large amount of fuel.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > misuse > [adjective] > wasteful > specific
gas-guzzling1913
1913 Indianapolis Sunday Star 29 June 15/7 (advt.) If your car is not doing its best work because of a troublesome, gas-guzzling, inefficient carburetor, give us an opportunity to show you the wonderful results produced by the Feps.
1968 Time 16 Aug. 62/3 What George Romney called the Big Three's ‘gas-guzzling dinosaurs’.
2004 Independent 22 July 10/4 The former world middleweight boxing champion has traded in his gas-guzzling family car..for a less thirsty vehicle.
gas jockey n. North American colloquial (a) a racing car driver (now rare); (b) a person employed to refuel motor vehicles at a petrol station.
ΚΠ
1929 Pittsburgh Courier 29 June ii. 5/3 (heading) Famous gas jockeys priming mounts for holiday grind at Arden.
1947 Hartford (Connecticut) Courant 24 Dec. 1/7 (heading) Lamarre gets job as ‘gas’ jockey; says he's broke.
1960 Lincoln (Nebraska) Evening Jrnl. 8 Feb. This intrepid gas jockey who averaged close to 150-miles-per-hour at Daytona Beach's frantic speedway.
1982 R. D. Lawrence Voy. Stella ii. 20 He dragged the hose over the dock and stuffed the nozzle into the main fuel tank inlet. Neither John nor I reacted with kindness to the gas jockey's humor.
2001 Granta Summer 15 He worked sporadically..: window washer, hod carrier, gas jockey, bellhop.
gas pedal n. North American a foot pedal which controls the speed of a vehicle's engine; an accelerator pedal.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > parts and equipment of motor vehicles > [noun] > pedals
accelerator pedal1902
pedal1902
brake-pedal1903
gas pedal1914
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > parts and equipment of motor vehicles > [noun] > speed control apparatus
accelerator1900
gas pedal1914
cruise control1949
1914 Pop. Mech. Mar. 154/1 (advt.) Auto heel rest used on all cars for brake, clutch and gas pedals.
1961 A. Miller Misfits xi. 116 Guido turns sharply with them—the truck leaning dangerously—and works brake and gas pedal simultaneously.
2004 L. Desoto Blade of Grass x. 62 Ben eases his foot off the gas pedal until they turn on to the paved road, then speeds up again without being aware of it.
gas pump n. North American (a) a pump which delivers petrol from the petrol tank of a motor vehicle to the engine; (b) a pump at a petrol station for supplying motor vehicles with petrol.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > testing, servicing, and storage of motor vehicles > [noun] > service station > parts of
petrol pump1905
gas pump1911
bowser1921
lubritorium1930
pump island1932
petrol bowser1942
forecourt1958
pump1972
1911 Titusville (Pa.) Morning Herald 25 Aug. 7/5 (advt.) Gas engine, new double clutch; gas pump and gasoline tank.
1925 F. S. Fitzgerald Great Gatsby i. 21 Garages, where new red gas-pumps sat out in pools of light.
1956 Pop. Sci. Aug. 210/2 Each mechanic immediately uncoupled the gas line and spun the motor to see if the gas pump was working.
2008 N.Y. Mag. 12 May 56 (headline) The Walkable, Bikeable Summer House. Four idyllic options for a week or a month that don't involve going near a gas pump.
gas station n. originally and chiefly North American a filling station, a petrol station.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > testing, servicing, and storage of motor vehicles > [noun] > service station
pump station1871
body shop1906
service station1910
petrol station1912
gas station1914
filling-station1921
garage1934
1914 Casa Grande (Arizona) Bull. 18 Apr. Every day auto parties arrive in Casa Grande from all parts of the state and the gas stations..receive a liberal patronage.
1957 J. Kerouac On the Road ii. vii. 149 Dean was wearing his gas-station coveralls.
2004 Outpost May 54/1 It took me a moment to warm to the thought of eating at a gas station in a country noted for its..beautiful cafes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

gasv.1

Brit. /ɡas/, U.S. /ɡæs/
Inflections: Present participle gassing; past tense and past participle gassed;
Forms: see gas n.1 and adj.
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: gas n.1
Etymology: < gas n.1 With sense 1 compare slightly earlier gassed adj., gassing n.
I. Senses relating to a physical substance.
1. transitive. To pass (a yarn or fabric) through a gas flame rapidly in order to remove superfluous fibres.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture of thread or yarn > [verb (transitive)] > other processes
twinec1300
weave1426
scour1751
gas1825
double-deck1842
pin-work1853
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > treating or processing textile fabric > treat or process textile fabric [verb (transitive)] > pass through flame to remove fibres
singe1728
gas1825
1825 Times 14 July 4/1 (advt.) The patentee [sc. Samuel Hall] has now establishments of considerable extent at Nottingham, Manchester, and Glasgow, for gassing every article of Cotton and Linen Manufacture.
1859 S. Smiles Self-help (1860) iv. 91 The process of gassing lace and the bleaching of starch.
1924 T. W. Page Making Tariff in U.S. v. 102 More than a third of it [sc. yarn] had been gassed, or singed, to improve its luster and smoothness by removing the fuzz.
2007 M. Righetti Knitting in Plain Eng. (ed. 2) iii. 19/1 Cotton..can be mercerized or gassed to make the finish smooth and shiny.
2. transitive. To impregnate or treat with gas.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > working with specific materials > working with other materials > work with other materials [verb (transitive)] > hydrate lime > impregnate slaked lime with chlorine
gas1858
1858 Dental Reporter 1 172 The piece is sometimes changed in its texture and color, as is supposed by the gases present, and the phenomenon is called gassing the piece.
1882 Spons' Encycl. Industr. Arts (new ed.) II. 460 Various precautions should be observed in gassing the lime.
1922 Mining & Metall. May 29/1 A dirty, slaggy furnace may result in gassing the metal.
1973 Nature 13 Apr. 463/2 There was no significant difference in mucosal uptake when the tissue was gassed with oxygen.
2010 Compar. Biochem. & Physiol. C. 152 242/2 The reaction was started by..gassing the assay medium with 5% CO2 and 95% O2.
3. transitive. To poison or asphyxiate with gas; to subject to a gas attack. Frequently in passive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > poison > injure by means of poison [verb (intransitive)] > be poisoned by gas
gas1896
1866 Inst. Mech. Engineers: Proc. 76 With the latter method there was no risk..of ‘gassing’ the men at the furnace top.
1896 Westm. Gaz. 6 Feb. 5/2 A man..shouted..that he was ‘gassed’ (poisoned by the sulphuretted hydrogen gas).
1915 Times 7 May 9/4 The men in hospital..who were ‘gassed’..on Hill 60.
1918 J. Munroe Mopping Up! xxiii. 226 It was at that point that the Germans gassed the French and broke through and overpowered the few remaining survivors in the trenches.
1922 Daily Mail 11 Nov. 7 18 Girls ‘Gassed’. A number of employees were overcome by fumes..through a stopper flying from a cylinder of ammonia gas.
1946 Black Book 376 The Germans put eighty of them to work in Camps 1 and 3, and gassed the rest.
1956 A. W. Upfield Man of Two Tribes 89 Then, you remember, he gassed the children via the kitchen stove and only escaped death with them through a miracle of medical science.
1978 W. Wharton Birdy (1980) 74 They have cages there and a setup for gassing unclaimed dogs.
1991 M. Nicholson Martha Jane & Me (1992) xxiv. 198 Uncle Willie had been gassed in the war.
4.
†a. transitive. To supply with gas. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > fuel > gas or types of gas > supply with gas [verb (transitive)]
gas1886
1886 Pall Mall Gaz. 9 Dec. 4 The District trains are now ‘gassed’ only once a day.
b. transitive. To inflate (a balloon, airship, etc.) with gas. Also with up.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > [verb (transitive)] > inflate with gas
gas1919
the world > space > extension in space > expansion or enlargement > expand or enlarge [verb (transitive)] > distend > inflate
forblow1413
puffc1460
inflate1528
huff1601
sufflate1616
plima1691
balloon1784
bloat1815
gas1919
1919 Bridgeport (Connecticut) Standard Telegram 7 May 5 All men nearby when a balloon is being ‘gassed’ shall either wear rubber heels or put cotton bags over their shoes.
1934 J. A. Sinclair Airships in Peace & War x. 204 The whole work of gassing the ship fell to the crew.
1999 Times-Picayune (New Orleans) (Nexis) 28 Mar. d3 It's pre-dawn and they're gassing up the balloons.
†5. transitive. Theatre colloquial. To illuminate (a scene) with gas lighting. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > the staging of a theatrical production > stage [verb (transitive)] > light
gas1888
limelight1927
1888 Scribner's Mag. Oct. 452/1 To ‘gas’ this act is an exceedingly difficult problem, for..a great variety of light-effects are introduced.
6. intransitive. Esp. of a storage battery or dry cell: to give off gas.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > [verb (intransitive)]
gas1902
1902 E. J. Wade Second. Batteries 335 As a rule the positives commence to gas almost immediately the current passes.
1921 Petroleum Mag. May 116/1 The well is still gassing, and will furnish fuel for drilling operations in that end of the field.
1950 G. W. Vinal Primary Batteries iv. 123 That dry cells do gas is well established.
1989 Mail on Sunday Camping & Caravaning 27/2 Butane will stop gassing at about 3°C.
2008 J. B. Malks How to keep your Collector Car Alive xx. 140/1 A six-volt battery gasses at about 6.9 volts.
II. Slang uses.
7. Cf. gas n.1 6.
a. transitive. U.S. To mislead (a person) by clever or persuasive talk; to tease, to bluff. Also (in African-American usage) with up.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > trickery, playing jokes > practise trickery [verb (intransitive)] > using bluff
to play a game of brag1845
gas1847
bluff1854
to run a bluff on1887
four-flush1896
fluff1902
blag1991
1847 D. A. Wells & S. H. Davis Sketches Williams College ii. v. 72 Found that Fairspeech only wanted to ‘gas’ me, which he did pretty effectually.
1888 Scribner's Mag. Aug. 219 But in all the rest, he's gassin' you.
1912 W. B. Maxwell In Cotton Wool xxix. 288 When I used to gas you about Alma..why didn't you tell me that you were seeing Alma up here?
1959 W. Miller Cool World 82 Get on the subway an it take me to the ocean? Duke you gassin me?
1998 E. J. Dickey Milk in my Coffee (2000) v. 61 You're lying harder than a three-day-old dead man. You ain't got with no Betsy Ross. You just trying to gas me up.
2002 G. Hunter-Jones Atlantic Warriors 204 ‘I've only got Visa.’ ‘Have to be cash then.’ ‘How about a British cheque?’ ‘Are you gassing me babe?’
b. intransitive. Originally U.S. To talk at length whilst saying little of value; to talk idly or boastfully; to chat, to gossip. Also with away, on.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > insincere or pretentious talk > talk insincerely [verb (intransitive)]
vapour1629
cant1648
quack1650
gas1849
bull1850
to shoot the bull1922
blah1924
1849 J. T. Trowbridge Kate ix. 34/1 Do you mean to insult my honor by hintin' that I keeps ghosts?.. But you're gassin' old cock.
1852 F. A. Buck Let. 1 Jan. (1930) 95 I have been..doing the agreeable to the customers at the Hermitage Hotel..and gassing with travellers generally.
1878 W. Besant & J. Rice By Celia's Arbour III. viii. 125 The half-dozen who went across to the States to gas about their bravery.
1942 N. Balchin Darkness falls from Air ii. 30 Most of the rest were wandering about gassing and doing nothing.
1950 J. Cannan Murder Included (1958) viii. 168 Elizabeth Hudson, who was always gassing away about botany, told me about the dropwort when I was out for a walk with her.
1971 M. McCarthy Birds of Amer. 12 It was clear to Peter that the admiral was just gassing to cover up his ignorance.
2003 P. Garrison Sea Hunter vi. 48 I told you he gasses on. You should hear him at a Wildscreen film festival with a drink in one hand and a mike in the other.
8. transitive. Originally Jazz. To impress or please enormously; to excite or thrill. Cf. earlier gassed adj. 5.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > excitement > pleasurable excitement > affect with pleasurable excitement [verb (transitive)] > give thrill of pleasurable excitement to
dirl1513
slay1863
razzle-dazzle1886
to turn on1903
panic1920
wow1924
kill1938
to knock out1942
fracture1946
gas1947
stoke1963
1947 Tomorrow (N.Y.) Aug. 28/1 Jack concludes his letter with mention of a book which, he says, ‘gassed me’.
1949 L. Feather Inside Be-bop vi. 44 Woody, after a year's retirement, had decided to come back with a band that would ‘gas’ everyone.
1967 Crescendo Mar. 6/2 A..cadenza at the end of ‘Watermelon man’ which really gassed me.
1989 New Yorker 16 Jan. 47/2 I was just gassed by New York—I couldn't believe how wonderful it was.
2004 C. Fleming After Havana (2005) i. 13 All that stuff that knocked their socks off at Birdland was gassing the house now in Havana.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

gasv.2

Brit. /ɡas/, U.S. /ɡæs/
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: gas n.2
Etymology: < gas n.2
colloquial (originally and chiefly North American).
1. transitive. To supply (a car or other vehicle) with fuel. Frequently with up.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > testing, servicing, and storage of motor vehicles > test, service and store motor vehicles [verb (transitive)] > supply with petrol
gas1918
refuel1973
to tank up1978
to top off1979
1918 Aerial Age Weekly 23 Sept. 87/2 The ships took off in formation and landed in formation at Everman Field, where they were gassed up for the return trip.
1934 J. M. Cain Postman always rings Twice ii. 12 I went to gas up a car.
1959 ‘J. R. Macdonald’ Galton Case (1960) x. 78 The attendant..was busy gassing a pickup truck.
1962 E. Ambler Light of Day ii. 25 You'd gone to gas up the car.
1999 W. Grover Dolphin Freedom (2000) iv. 63 While he gassed the boat, I took a look around.
2. intransitive. To fill the petrol tank of a car or other vehicle; to take on fuel. Usually with up.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > testing, servicing, and storage of motor vehicles > test, service and store motor vehicles [verb (intransitive)] > fill up petrol tank
to tank up1933
gas1940
1920 Post Office Appropriation Bill, 1921 44 Planes frequently stop to gas up.
1940 R. Chandler Farewell, my Lovely vii. 52 He gassed up there and the service station kid recognized him.
1958 Life 9 June 105/1 The plane arrived too early to gas and flew to Lantana Airport.., gassed up..and flew to the Dominican Republic.
1962 E. S. Gardner Case of Blonde Bonanza xiv. 161 One of the city police picked up Dillard at a service station..where he was gassing up.
2000 R. Barger et al. Hell's Angel i. 6 After going about a hundred miles, it's up to me to decide when everyone can gas up.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1adj.1662n.21878v.11825v.21918
随便看

　

英语词典包含1132095条英英释义在线翻译词条，基本涵盖了全部常用单词的英英翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。

　

Copyright © 2004-2022 Newdu.com All Rights Reserved
更新时间：2025/1/12 0:19:00