Gas

From Dutch gas, a word coined by chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont. From Ancient Greek Ï‡Î¬Î¿Ï‚ (khaos, "chasm, void").

Full definition of gas

(countable and uncountable; plural gass)

(uncountable, chemistry) Matter in a state intermediate between liquid and plasma that can be contained only if it is fully surrounded by a solid (or in a bubble of liquid) (or held together by gravitational pull); it can condense into a liquid, or can (rarely) become a solid directly.

2013, Lee S. Langston, The Adaptable Gas Turbine, Turbines have been around for a long timeâ€”windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.

A lot of gas had escaped from the cylinder.
(countable, chemistry) A chemical element or compound in such a state.
The atmosphere is made up of a number of different gases.
(uncountable) A flammable gaseous hydrocarbon or hydrocarbon mixture (typically predominantly methane) used as a fuel, e.g. for cooking, heating, electricity generation or as a fuel in internal combustion engines in vehicles.
Gas-fired power stations have largely replaced coal-burning ones.
(countable) A hob on a gas cooker.
She turned the gas on, put the potatoes on, then lit the oven.
(US) Methane or other waste gases trapped in one's belly as a result of the digestive process.
My tummy hurts so bad, I have gas.
(slang) A humorous or entertaining event or person.
He is such a gas!
(baseball) A fastball.
The closer threw him nothing but gas.

Shortening of gasoline.

(uncountable)

(US) To give a vehicle more fuel in order to accelerate it. The cops are coming. Gas it!
(US) To fill (a vehicle's fuel tank) with fuel

Compare the slang usage of "a gas", above.

(Ireland, colloquial) comical, zany.Mary's new boyfriend is a gas man.It was gas when the bird flew into the classroom.

This is common in speech, but rarely used in writing.