Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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intj
A sharp, sudden sound from someone's throat while they're coughing, vomiting, gagging, etc.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Qualifier: often repeated several times
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
intj
An expression of disgust or disapproval.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
intj
An expression of trepidation.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
intj
The sound of a bird's call in response to disturbance.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Crystal meth.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Powder cocaine.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To make a sharp, sudden sound in one's throat, such as before vomiting or while coughing, gagging, etc.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To do something that causes a sharp, sudden sound in one's throat.
To vomit, throw up.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To do something that causes a sharp, sudden sound in one's throat.
To cough something up.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To do something that causes a sharp, sudden sound in one's throat.
To choke (be unable to breathe because of obstruction of the windpipe)
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To do something that causes a sharp, sudden sound in one's throat.
To choke (experience tightness in one's throat as a result of strong emotion)
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To call in response to disturbance.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Apparently onomatopoeic and believed to have first appeared in comic strips. Compare gag (“to choke; to retch”) and hack (“to cough noisily”). The "cocaine" and "meth" senses apparently comes from the fact that snorting the drugs often activates a person's gag reflex.
Apparently onomatopoeic. Compare German gack (“call of a hen”), German gackern (“(of a chicken) to loudly and repetitive cry”), and Dutch gakken (“(of a goose) to honk”). Comparison to more terms Pokorny compared German gackern to words including English gaggle, Latvian gâgát (“cry like a goose”), Russian gogotátь (gogotátʹ, “(of geese) cackle; laugh loudly”), Old Norse gaga (“mock, ridicule”), and Albanian gogësínj (“yawn, burp”), among others. Pokorny considered common origin or separate innovation both as possibilities to explain the similarities.
Across languages
4 source translations are retained for this English entry.
