n.
(pl. gases or chiefly US gasses)
- an air-like fluid substance which expands freely to fill any space available, irrespective of its quantity.
▸Physics a substance of this type that cannot be liquefied by pressure alone. Compare with vapour.
▸a flammable gas used as a fuel.
▸Mining an explosive mixture of firedamp (methane) with air.
- a gaseous anaesthetic such as nitrous oxide, used in dentistry.
- N. Amer. flatulence.
- N. Amer. informal gasoline; petrol.
-
(a gas)
informal an entertaining or amusing person or thing.
v.
(gases, gassing, gassed)
- kill or harm by exposure to gas.
▸(of a storage battery or dry cell) give off gas.
- informal talk idly; chatter.
- N. Amer. informal fill the tank of (a motor vehicle) with petrol.
Derivative
Etymology
C17: invented by the Belgian chemist J. B. van Helmont to denote an occult principle which he believed to exist in all matter; suggested by Gk khaos ‘chaos’.