gassing

Everyday

1. (informal, UK, old-fashioned) Chatting or talking for a long time about not very important things; also boasting. tree →
2. Poisoning or killing with gas; an attack with poison gas. tree →
3. (US, informal) Filling a car with petrol, as in «gassing up». tree →

In the lessons

Sense 1 is old-fashioned chatty English: «stop gassing and get on with it». Sense 2 is a serious history word: poison gas was used in the First World War, and the Nazis murdered millions in gas chambers in the Holocaust. Sense 3 is American everyday talk.

Examples

• Stop gassing and finish your homework! tree →
• The two old friends sat gassing over a cup of tea all afternoon. tree →
• Toad was gassing on about his adventures again. tree →
• Soldiers wore masks to protect them from gassing in the First World War. tree →
• We stopped to gas up the car on the way to Grandma's. tree →
• Rat was tired of Toad's endless gassing. tree →

Note

Verb «gas» doubles the s: gassed, gassing. Sense 2 is very serious and sad; take care using it. Plural of the noun «gas» is «gases». «Gas» in the USA also means petrol.