What does gasp mean?

Definitions for gasp
gæsp, gɑspgasp

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word gasp.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. gasp, pantverb

    a short labored intake of breath with the mouth open

    "she gave a gasp and fainted"

  2. pant, puff, gasp, heaveverb

    breathe noisily, as when one is exhausted

    "The runners reached the finish line, panting heavily"

Wiktionary

  1. gaspnoun

    A short, sudden intake of breath.

    The audience gave a gasp of astonishment

  2. gaspnoun

    A draw or drag on a cigarette (or gasper).

    I'm popping out for a gasp.

  3. gaspverb

    To draw in the breath suddenly, as if from a shock.

    The audience gasped as the magician disappeared

  4. gaspverb

    To breathe laboriously or convulsively.

    We were all gasping when we reached the summit

  5. gaspverb

    To speak in a breathless manner

    The old man gasped his last few words

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Gaspnoun

    Etymology: from the verb.

    His fortunes all lie speechless, and his name
    Is at last gasp. William Shakespeare, Cymbeline.

    Ah, Warwick, Montague hath breath’d his last;
    And to the latest gasp cry’d out for Warwick. William Shakespeare, H. VI.

    If in the dreadful hour of death,
    If at the latest gasp of breath,
    When the cold damp bedews your brow,
    You hope for mercy, shew it now. Joseph Addison, Rosamond.

    Life’s business at one gasp be o’er. Alexander Pope.

  2. To Gaspverb

    Etymology: from gape, Skinner; from gispe, Danish, to sob, Junius.

    The sick for air before the portal gasp. John Dryden, Virg. Geo.

    They rais’d a feeble cry with trembling notes;
    But the weak voice deceiv’d their gasping throats. Dryden.

    The gasping head flies off; a purple flood
    Flows from the trunk. John Dryden, Æn.

    The ladies gasp’d, and scarcely could respire;
    The breath they drew no longer air, but fire. Dryden.

    A scantling of wit lay gasping for life, and groaning beneath a heap of rubbish. John Dryden, Spanish Fryar.

    Pale and faint,
    He gasps for breath; and, as his life flows from him,
    Demands to see his friends. Joseph Addison, Cato.

    I lay me down to gasp my latest breath;
    The wolves will get a breakfast by my death. Dryden.

    He staggers round, his eyeballs roll in death,
    And with short sobs he gasps away his breath. John Dryden, Æn.

    The Castilian and his wife had the comfort to be under the same master, who, seeing how dearly they loved one another, and gasped after their liberty, demanded a most exorbitant price for their ransom. Spectator, №. 198.

Wikipedia

  1. gasp

    Paralanguage, also known as vocalics, is a component of meta-communication that may modify meaning, give nuanced meaning, or convey emotion, by using techniques such as prosody, pitch, volume, intonation, etc. It is sometimes defined as relating to nonphonemic properties only. Paralanguage may be expressed consciously or unconsciously. The study of paralanguage is known as paralinguistics and was invented by George L. Trager in the 1950s, while he was working at the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. Department of State. His colleagues at the time included Henry Lee Smith, Charles F. Hockett (working with him on using descriptive linguistics as a model for paralanguage), Edward T. Hall developing proxemics, and Ray Birdwhistell developing kinesics. Trager published his conclusions in 1958, 1960 and 1961.His work has served as a basis for all later research, especially those investigating the relationship between paralanguage and culture (since paralanguage is learned, it differs by language and culture). A good example is the work of John J. Gumperz on language and social identity, which specifically describes paralinguistic differences between participants in intercultural interactions. The film Gumperz made for BBC in 1982, Multiracial Britain: Cross talk, does a particularly good job of demonstrating cultural differences in paralanguage and their impact on relationships. Paralinguistic information, because it is phenomenal, belongs to the external speech signal (Ferdinand de Saussure's parole) but not to the arbitrary conmodality]]. Even vocal language has some paralinguistic as well as linguistic properties that can be seen (lip reading, McGurk effect), and even felt, e.g. by the Tadoma method.

ChatGPT

  1. gasp

    A gasp is a sudden, involuntary intake or catching of one's breath, often due to shock, surprise, or difficulty in breathing. It can also refer to a moment of great surprise, relief, or longing. As a verb, to gasp means to inhale sharply and loudly through the mouth due to shock, surprise, or exertion.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Gaspverb

    to open the mouth wide in catching the breath, or in laborious respiration; to labor for breath; to respire convulsively; to pant violently

  2. Gaspverb

    to pant with eagerness; to show vehement desire

  3. Gaspverb

    to emit or utter with gasps; -- with forth, out, away, etc

  4. Gaspnoun

    the act of opening the mouth convulsively to catch the breath; a labored respiration; a painful catching of the breath

  5. Etymology: [OE. gaspen, gaispen, to yawn, gasp, Icel. geispa to yawn; akin to Sw. gspa, Dan. gispe to gasp.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Gasp

    gasp, v.i. to gape in order to catch breath: to desire eagerly.—n. the act of opening the mouth to catch the breath.—pr.p. and adj. Gasp′ing, convulsive, spasmodic.—adv. Gasp′ingly.—The last gasp, the utmost extremity. [Ice. geispa, to yawn, by metathesis from geipsa, cf. geip, idle talk.]

Suggested Resources

  1. gasp

    Song lyrics by gasp -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by gasp on the Lyrics.com website.

  2. GASP

    What does GASP stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the GASP acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Verbs Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'gasp' in Verbs Frequency: #1008

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

Anagrams for gasp »

  1. gaps

  2. spag

  3. SPAG

How to pronounce gasp?

How to say gasp in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of gasp in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of gasp in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of gasp in a Sentence

  1. Lee Merritt:

    If he was a good Samaritan, he would have honked his horn. Its worth noting that on the video, he doesnt even flinch. He doesnt gasp. Shot after shot. He simply takes it all in.

  2. Xu Zhongbo:

    Those outdated steel mills, local governments and local banks are lingering in the last gasp, they live or die together.

  3. Barack Obama:

    I think this is the last gasp of folks who have been fighting against [the Affordable Care Act] for ideological reasons.

  4. Tara Cornelisse:

    It's like the Milky Way flashes on and then off. You hear people gasp 'Ohhhh!'.

  5. Hal Buell:

    This picture never fails to draw a gasp, the picture itself is the news; it shows that dramatic moment between life and death.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

gasp#10000#25392#100000

Translations for gasp

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

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"gasp." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 Dec. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/gasp>.

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    take away to an undisclosed location against their will and usually in order to extract a ransom
    A cleave
    B abduct
    C abhor
    D transpire

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