Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A spark; a dying spark; a dead spark, as of a candle snuffed.
  • Same as gnash.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A spark; a dying spark; a dead spark, as of a snuffed candle.
  • verb transitive, intransitive To gnash.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English gnast, knast, from Old English *gnāst ("spark") (in combination fȳrgnāst ("spark of fire")), from Proto-Germanic *gahnaistô (“spark”), from Proto-Germanic *ga- + Proto-Germanic *hnaistô (“spark”). Cognate with German dialectal Ganster ("spark"), Danish gnist ("spark, sparkle"), Swedish gnista ("spark"), Icelandic gneisti, neisti ("spark"), German Gneis ("spark, gneiss").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English gnasten, gnaisten, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *gnīstijanan (“to grind”), from Proto-Indo-European *ghneidh-, *ghneid- (“to gnaw, scratch, rub”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian knasterje ("to gnash"), German Low German gnatschen ("to knead, gnash"), German knastern ("to gnash"), Icelandic gnesta ("to crack").

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Examples

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Comments

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  • var. of gnash

    Miss Jackson if you're gnasty?

    October 15, 2010