Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

gag

/ɡæɡ/ noun, verb

Forms gags gagging gagged

  1. noun A device to restrain speech, such as a rag in the mouth secured with tape or a rubber ball threaded onto a cord or strap.
  2. noun (by extension, law) An order or rule forbidding discussion of a case or subject.
  3. noun (figurative) Any suppression of freedom of speech.
  4. noun (comedy) A joke or mischievous prank.
  5. noun (film) a device or trick used to create a practical effect; a gimmick
  6. noun (LGBTQ slang) A shocking or surprising thing.
  7. noun (archaic, acting, slang, uncountable) Unscripted lines introduced by an actor into his part.
  8. noun A convulsion of the upper digestive tract, caused by the gag reflex.
  9. verb (intransitive) To experience the vomiting reflex. “He gagged when he saw the open wound.”
  10. verb (transitive) To cause to heave with nausea.
  11. verb (transitive) To restrain someone's speech by blocking his or her mouth.
  12. verb (transitive) To pry or hold open by means of a gag.
  13. verb (transitive, figuratively) To restrain someone's speech without using physical means. “When the financial irregularities were discovered, the CEO gagged everyone in the accounting department.”
  14. verb (ambitransitive) To choke; to retch.
  15. verb (ambitransitive, obsolete, slang) To deceive (someone); to con.
  16. verb (transitive, LGBTQ slang) To astonish (someone); to leave speechless.

Synonyms

gag order see Thesaurus:joke gag grouper joke laugh jest jape muzzle choke fret quip strangle suffocate heave retch

Etymology

The noun is from Early Modern English gagge; the verb is from Middle English gaggen. Possibly imitative or perhaps related to or influenced by Old Norse gag-háls ("with head thrown backwards"; > Norwegian dialectal gaga (“bent backwards”)). The intransitive sense "to retch" is from 1707. The noun is from the 16th century, figurative use (for "repression of speech") from the 1620s. The secondary meaning "(practical) joke" is from 1863, of unclear origin.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To stop the mouth of, by thrusting sometimes in, so as to hinder speaking; hence, to silence by authority or by violence; not to allow freedom of speech to. Marvell.
  2. verb To pry or hold open by means of a gag. Mouths gagged to such a wideness. Fortescue (Transl. ).
  3. verb To heave with nausea; to retch.
  4. verb To introduce gags or interpolations. See Gag, n., 3. [Slang]

Etymology [Prob. fr. W. cegio to choke or strangle, fr. ceg mouth, opening, entrance.]

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “gag”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details