Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A narrow passage extending inland from a shore; a channel.
- n. Slang A pistol.
- v. Archaic A past tense of get.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- An old preterit of get.
- n. An obsolete form of goat.
- n. An opening or passage in a sand-bank; a way from the cliffs to the sea.
- n. Nautical, a channel among shoals.
Wiktionary
- n. archaic, slang, in old westerns A Gatling gun.
- n. slang, 1920's gangster Any type of gun; usually in reference to a pistol.
- v. slang To shoot someone with a pistol or other handheld firearm.
- n. New Zealand, slang A guitar
- v. Scottish and Northern English Simple past of get.
GNU Webster's 1913
- obsolete imp. of get.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a gangster's pistol
Etymologies
- From guitar, by shortening (Wiktionary)
- Probably Dutch, from Middle Dutch.Short for Gat(ling gun). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Colin says, nevertheless, that the Chiefs used the title gat or lakan, and the women dayang.”
“I'm still laughin gat what someone wrote here, my favorite line .. ". .if you put her brain in a bird, it would fly backwards.”
“Now it chanced that in the marketplace his eye lit on a certain fine boy whom he knew could not be of the country, & asking him his name gat for answer that he was called Olaf and his father Tryggvi Olafson and his mother Astrid, the daughter of Eirik Biodaskalli.”
The Sagas of Olaf Tryggvason and of Harald The Tyrant (Harald Haardraade)
“Since John is from the Snake Plissken School Of Indifference he passes unless he can bring his gat, that is.”
Dart Adams presents A Tale Of Ten Trailers AKA I Have Entirely Too Much Free Time On My Hands
“No wailing word gat Gudrun, no thought she had to weep”
The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs
“Coicou insisted he never heard anyone say they were going to get a "gat," or a gun.”
Tonya Plank: What Does It Take To Convict Police in The Shooting of an Unarmed Black Man?
“The only reason a black man would be arrested in your example is if he/she brought the 'gat' they are surley 'packin' into work the final day they were there.”
Tim Kring apologizes for calling fans 'dips***s' -- The Live Feed | THR
“I am thankful I have access to such terms as 'gat' and 'packin' due to the impeccibly vocal inner city youth made up of mostly african americans.”
Tim Kring apologizes for calling fans 'dips***s' -- The Live Feed | THR
“Moreover, before steam made coast traffic independent of wind, the sand-banks outside the roads were a great source of profit to the beach men, who went off in their long yawls to such craft as "missed stays" coming through a "gat," or managed to run aground on one of the sand-banks in some way or other.”
“Just as I come by that lumber-pile down yonder, a man hopped out an throwed a 'gat' under my nose.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘gat’.
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phrontistery - g
from phrontistery.info
gynaecology, gynaecomania, gyromancy, gyrograph, gyve, gyrus, gyron, gynaecocracy, gyrose, gynics, gutturotetany, gymnophobia and 439 more...
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RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
wrath, leaf, belly, prey, death, break, six, nod, dim, end, inn, judge and 1286 more...
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3-letter Scrabble Words
aah, aal, aas, aba, abo, abs, aby, ace, act, add, ado, ads and 995 more...
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gun
words for firearms (singular)
gun, chopper, rifle, pistol, shooter, pea shooter, cannon, glock, shotgun, gat, strap, revolver and 27 more...
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Unusual words for Words With Friends
A list of words that WWF recognizes as valid - most are unusual words; some are simply high-scoring.
botel, slipe, jeu, chub, chubs, cote, mure, tittle, dev, loo, hoke, helo and 357 more...
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3LW
3 letter words, not the girl band.
boggle and speed scrabble would not be half as fun without them.aah, boa, dot, fun, ick, log, oca, pyx, sos, was, aal, bob and 342 more...
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suzyg's Words
brandish, recompence, shopping, dichotomy, paradigm, reverse osmosis, anyway, despite, drunk, degenerate, insipid, grateful and 438 more...
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DYSLEXIC'S DREAD
Words That Make Sense in Reverse Too! Bad news for a dyslexic, 'cause s/he's got no clue if s/he read the word correctly or not, as opposed to a palindrome (i.e., no mistake possible, cf. "Dyslexic...
tool, lever, nap, pool, leer, leek, desserts, strop, doom, ukiah, yaws, ward and 213 more...
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MsHalston's Words
theoretically, insufferable, apolitico, milquetoast, egregious, aplomb, elan, fraught, flummox, befrocked, moll, molten and 605 more...
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Lay of the Land
all kinds of scapes
steppe, veld, veldt, campo, llano, taiga, krummholz, elfinwood, tundra, sward, lea, heath and 197 more...
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Because I like Them: G --- H
gossypiboma, gymnophoria, ginglyform, goobermensch, gomeril, gump, grinagog, gorbelly, gound, hamesucken, hypobulic, humicubate and 93 more...
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another yet
anneal, copepod, cuckoo, fathead, intone, patter, cabriole, knickknack, boodle, kit, estrange, forebode and 209 more...
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Firearms
Nicknames for guns.
ratchet, cohete, chopper, gat, strap, long gun, auto, pistol, sidearm, slugthrower, kinetic weapon, revolver and 22 more...
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Archaic (or sounds that way)
goldwine, scop, skald, tenterhook, wassail, mazer, metheglin, cyser, pyment, perry, heresiarch, palatinate and 37 more...
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1920s Slang
Definitions to be added where necessary
spifflicated, flapper, dame, applesauce, bee's knees, bum's rush, hoofer, gams, glad rags, necking, upchuck, blotto and 18 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for gat.
asativum Thanks -- I was hoping someone smart would fill in my assumption! Much appreciated. Oct 1, 2008
yarb Archaic past tense of get, i.e. equivalent of got. I'm surprised an 1895 translation would use it; probably the translator is aiming for an antiquated feel.
Makes me think of the Morte D'Arthur, e.g. "How gat ye this sword? said Sir Ector to Arthur." (I. v.)
Still exists in begat, which you sometimes see as past of beget. In this sense I guess the King James Genesis gave it extra momentum with its famous "Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech..." etc. Sep 30, 2008
asativum Also an archaic past form of go or get, apparently:
"So Thorir gat him west to Dublin, and enquiring there for tidings of Oli learned that he was with his brother-in-law King Olaf Kvaran. Thereafter Thorir brought it to pass that he gat speech of Oli, and when they had talked often and long (for Thorir was a very smooth-tongued man) fell Oli to asking about the Upland kings: which of them were still alive and what dominions pertained to them."
-- Sturluson, Snorri: The Sagas of Olaf Tryggvason and of Harald the Tyrant
(Note: I think the link leads to the same translation I'm quoting from, but I could be wrong.) Sep 30, 2008
oroboros Tag in reverse. Nov 2, 2007