gasp

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“
Moggy, you're ill A groan and a gasp was the reply, and the poor creature made such wry faces, and looked altogether so cadaverous, that Jacky was quite alarmed.

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Definitions (15)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. intransitive verb To draw in the breath sharply, as from shock.
  2. intransitive verb To breathe convulsively or laboriously.
  3. transitive verb To utter in a breathless manner.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (6)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples (50)

  • Hell im just thankful we didn't pick Matt Leinart or WORSE (* gasp*) Alex Smith! —  MVN
  • Jim Newell: * gasp* teabagging jokes will NEVER get old. —  Wonkette » top
  • Here's a thought; IRA, personal investments (* gasp* I know, these take some small amount of * PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY) ... —  Betanews
  • I had more fun with crackdown. (* gasp*) That game had a crappy story, and a stupid premise but was a LOT more fun to play. —  Xboxic
  • I've been listening to a whole lot of one of my favorite singer-songwriters outed himself as a - * gasp* - conservative a few days ago (it's a good read). —  RVABlogs
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This word has been looked up 108 times.

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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

groan ·  sob ·  scream ·  grunt ·  chuckle ·  howl ·  squeal ·  whisper ·  growl ·  whimper ·  hiss ·  cough

Used in the same contextWord Family

gasp:   gasps ·  gasped ·  gasping
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English gaspen, gaispen, to gape, yawn, from Old Norse geispa, to yawn.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English gaspen, gayspen, from Icelandic geispa = Swedish gäspa, dial. gispa, yawn, = Danish gispe, gasp. Cf. Low German japsen, yawn, which suggests that gasp stands for *gaps (cf. clasp, Middle English clapsen, hasp, dial. haps, etc.), a deriv. of gape; but this does not suit the Scandinavian forms; Icelandic gapa could not produce geispa.
  2. = Icelandic geispi = Danish gisp; from the verb.
 

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/gæsp/
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