GAG (gagged, gagging)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: gagged    , gagging   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does gag mean? 

• GAG (noun)
  The noun GAG has 2 senses:

1. a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter

2. restraint put into a person's mouth to prevent speaking or shouting

  Familiarity information: GAG used as a noun is rare.

• GAG (verb)
  The verb GAG has 7 senses:

1. prevent from speaking out

2. be too tight; rub or press

3. tie a gag around someone's mouth in order to silence them

4. make jokes or quips

5. struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake

6. cause to retch or choke

7. make an unsuccessful effort to vomit; strain to vomit

  Familiarity information: GAG used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GAG (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

gag; jape; jest; joke; laugh

Context example:

even a schoolboy's jape is supposed to have some ascertainable point

Hypernyms ("gag" is a kind of...):

humor; humour; wit; witticism; wittiness (a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter)

Meronyms (parts of "gag"):

gag line; laugh line; punch line; tag line (the point of a joke or humorous story)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gag"):

belly laugh; howler; riot; scream; sidesplitter; thigh-slapper; wow (a joke that seems extremely funny)

blue joke; blue story; dirty joke; dirty story (an indelicate joke)

ethnic joke (a joke at the expense of some ethnic group)

funny; funny remark; funny story; good story (an account of an amusing incident (usually with a punch line))

in-joke (a joke that is appreciated only by members of some particular group of people)

one-liner (a one-line joke)

shaggy dog story (a long rambling joke whose humor derives from its pointlessness)

sick joke (a joke in bad taste)

sight gag; visual joke (a joke whose effect is achieved by visual means rather than by speech (as in a movie))

Derivation:

gag (make jokes or quips)

gagster (someone who writes comic material for public performers)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Restraint put into a person's mouth to prevent speaking or shouting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

gag; muzzle

Hypernyms ("gag" is a kind of...):

constraint; restraint (a device that retards something's motion)

Derivation:

gag (tie a gag around someone's mouth in order to silence them)

gag (prevent from speaking out)

• GAG (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they gag    ... he / she / it gags   
Past simple: gagged   
Past participle: gagged   
-ing form: gagging   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Prevent from speaking out

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

gag; muzzle

Context example:

The press was gagged

Hypernyms (to "gag" is one way to...):

hush; hush up; quieten; shut up; silence; still (cause to be quiet or not talk)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to gag the prisoners

Derivation:

gag (restraint put into a person's mouth to prevent speaking or shouting)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be too tight; rub or press

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

choke; fret; gag

Context example:

This neckband is choking the cat

Hypernyms (to "gag" is one way to...):

compact; compress; constrict; contract; press; squeeze (squeeze or press together)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sense 3

Meaning:

Tie a gag around someone's mouth in order to silence them

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

gag; muzzle

Context example:

The burglars gagged the home owner and tied him to a chair

Hypernyms (to "gag" is one way to...):

bind; tie (fasten or secure with a rope, string, or cord)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

gag (restraint put into a person's mouth to prevent speaking or shouting)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Make jokes or quips

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

gag; quip

Context example:

The students were gagging during dinner

Hypernyms (to "gag" is one way to...):

jest; joke (tell a joke; speak humorously)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

gag (a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

choke; gag; strangle; suffocate

Context example:

he swallowed a fishbone and gagged

Hypernyms (to "gag" is one way to...):

hurt; suffer (feel pain or be in pain)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s on something
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 6

Meaning:

Cause to retch or choke

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

choke; gag

Hypernyms (to "gag" is one way to...):

sicken (make sick or ill)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sense 7

Meaning:

Make an unsuccessful effort to vomit; strain to vomit

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

gag; heave; retch

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

 Context examples 

GEM-92 is complementary to the gag mRNA of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), resulting in HIV-1 replication inhibition.

(GEM 92, NCI Thesaurus)

HIV-p24 antigen, an important core protein of the human immunodeficiency virus, is encoded by the gag gene.

(HIV p24 Antigen, NCI Thesaurus)

They had gagged me, and Murillo twisted my arm round until I gave him the address.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Gag:267-274 peptide is highly immunogenic and may potentially be used as a cancer immunoadjuvant.

(Gag:267-274 Peptide Vaccine, NCI Thesaurus)

That his wife should not work! It gagged him.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He was gagged before he could give the alarm, and tied down upon the bed.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Could I but bind him and gag him in his drunken sleep, then a prick or two of my dagger would arouse him to listen to what I had to say to him.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then the gag swung to the side with an abrupt swiftness, the great sail boomed like a cannon, and the three rows of reef-points slatted against the canvas like a volley of rifles.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Upon vaccination, the immune system may exert a potent cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) response against the xenoantigen gag:267-274 and produces pro-inflammatory cytokines.

(Gag:267-274 Peptide Vaccine, NCI Thesaurus)

On entering the room their first proceeding must have been to gag Mr. Blessington.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)