The noun is from Early Modern Englishgagge; the verb is fromMiddle Englishgaggen. Possibly imitative or perhaps related to or influenced byOld Norsegag-háls("with head thrown backwards"; > Norwegian dialectalgaga(“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.

• IPA^(key):/ɡæɡ/

• Audio(Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes:-æɡ

gag (countable anduncountable,pluralgags)

2. Adevice torestrain speech, such as arag in the mouth secured with tape or arubberball threaded onto a cord or strap.
   • 2014, Anil Aggrawal,APC Essentials of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, page298:

     Blood may seep to the back of the throat and may clot, producing an “artificialgag” of clotted blood.

3. (law) Anorder orrule forbidding discussion of a case or subject.
4. (figurative) Anysuppression offreedom of speech.
   • 2021 August 6, Online Reporters, “Civil Court blocks PM's gag on free speech”, inBangkok Post‎^[1], retrieved2021-08-06:

     Civil Court blocks PM'sgag on free speech

5. Ajoke or othermischievousprank.
   • 2012 May 20, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Marge Gets A Job” (season 4, episode 7; originally aired 11/05/1992)”, inThe Onion AV Club‎^[2]:

     We all know how genius “Kamp Krusty,” “A Streetcar Named Marge,” “Homer The Heretic,” “Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie” and “Mr. Plow” are, but even the relatively unheralded episodes offer wall-to-wall laughs and some of the smartest, darkest, and weirdestgags ever Trojan-horsed into a network cartoon with a massive family audience.

6. (film) adevice ortrick used to create apractical effect; agimmick
   • 2016 November 3, Ian Failes, “How the King of Practical Effects Conquered ‘Hacksaw Ridge’”, inInverse‎^[3]:

     OnHacksaw Ridge, Oliver and his team of effects artisans devisedgags for that spectacular flamethrower shot along with other devastating body and bullet hits, and several mortar and full-scale explosions, all aimed at communicating the reality of battle.

7. Aconvulsion of the upperdigestive tract.
8. (archaic) A mouthful that makes one retch or choke.
   • 2008, Charles Lamb, Percy Fitzgerald,The Life, Letters, and Writings of Charles Lamb - Volume 3, page153:

     L. has recorded the repugnance of the school togags, or the fat of fresh beef boiled, and sets it down to some superstition.

   • 2013, Kathleen Cioffi,Alternative Theatre in Poland, page123:

     ...and to take that fire behind the bony bars of the chest and into the tower of the windpipe, in one breath, before you choke on agag of air thickened from the last breath of the executed the breathing of hot barrels and blood streaming on concrete,...

9. (archaic,slang,uncountable) Unscripted lines introduced by an actor into his part.
   • 1882, Dutton Cook,A Book of the Play, page329:

     "The Critic" has long been known in the theatre as a "gag-piece;" that is, a play which the performers consider themselves entitled to treat with the most merciless licence.

   • 1886,The Theatre, volume 1, page11:

     […] and my actors imbibe a reverence for their author, sir, which reverence I regret to observe is fast vanishing, in other places, under the baneful influence ofgag, sir,gag! We play no pranks with the text, sir, in my company; if you cannot improve your author, which is generally doubtful, don't make him worse than he is.

   • 1932 [1914], L. Widdop,Card Tricks, pages16-17:

     The intelligent perfumer will evolve "gag" as he goes to suit the circumstances,[…]

10. Mycteroperca microlepis, a species ofgrouper.

    Synonym:gag grouper

    • 1996, C.C. Koenig, “Reproduction in Gag (Mycteroperca microlepis) (Pisces: Serranidae) in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Consequences of Fishing Spawning Aggregations”, inBiology, Fisheries, and Culture of Tropical Groupers and Snappers:

      The shallow water groups (Family Serranidae), includinggag (Mycteroperca microlepis), black grouper (M. bonaci), scamp (M. phenax), and red grouper (Epinephalus morio), support major commercial and recreational fisheries in the southeastern United States.

• (legal):gag order
• (joke): See alsoThesaurus:joke

• → French:gag
• → Italian:gag
• → Spanish:gag

gag (third-person singular simple presentgags,present participlegagging,simple past and past participlegagged)

1. (intransitive) To experience the vomiting reflex.

   Hegagged when he saw the open wound.

2. (transitive) To cause to heave with nausea.
   • 2008,Stephen King,A Very Tight Place:

     His empty stomach was suddenly full of butterflies, and for the first time since arriving here at scenic Durkin Grove Village, he felt an urge togag himself. He would be able to think more clearly about this if he just stuck his fingers down his throat[…]

3. (transitive) Torestrain someone's speech by blocking his or her mouth.
   • 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e.,Emma Orczy], “The Fate of theArtemis”, inThe Case of Miss Elliott, London:T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published1905,→OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909,OCLC11192831, quoted inThe Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia:Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

     “[…] Captain Markam had been found lying half-insensible,gagged and bound, on the floor of the sitting-room, his hands and feet tightly pinioned, and a woollen comforter wound closely round his mouth and neck ; whilst Mrs. Markham's jewel-case, containing valuable jewellery and the secret plans of Port Arthur, had disappeared.[…]”

   • 1906 August,Alfred Noyes, “The Highwayman”, inPoems, New York, N.Y.:The Macmillan Company; London:Macmillan & Co., published October 1906,→OCLC, part 2, stanza II,page49:

     They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead, / But theygagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed; / Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!

4. (transitive) Topry or hold open by means of a gag.
   • 1917, Francis Gregor (translator),De Laudibus Legum Angliae, SirJohn Fortescue, written 1468–1471, first published 1543.

     […] some have their mouthsgagged to such a wideness, for a long time, whereat such quantities of water are poured in, that their bellies swell to a prodigious degree[…]

5. (transitive,figuratively) To restrain someone's speech without using physical means.

   When the financial irregularities were discovered, the CEOgagged everyone in the accounting department.

   • c.1840,Thomas Macaulay,Essay on Machiavelli:

     The time was not yet come when eloquence was to begagged, and reason to be hoodwinked.

   • 1992 May 8, John Zeh,Gay Community News, page 3:

     Vaid blasted the Bush administration forgagging doctors from discussing abortion.

6. (ambitransitive) Tochoke; toretch.
7. (ambitransitive,obsolete,slang) Todeceive (someone); tocon.
   • 1777,Frances Burney,Journals & Letters, Penguin, published2001, page79:

     I endeavoured what I could to soften off the affectation of her sudden change of Disposition; and Igagged the Gentleman with as much ease as my very little ease would allow me to assume.

8. (transitive,LGBTQslang) Toastonish (someone); to leavespeechless.
   • 2024 May 10, Justin Moran, quotingIsaac Dunbar, “Isaac Dunbar and Kerri Colby Were Built for This”, inPaper‎^[4]:

     I knew who you were as a[RuPaul's] Drag Race fan. So I wasgagged personally and I still amgagged, but it was quite divine intervention. Thom Kerr, the photographer, really got the ball rolling and I had no idea what to expect of this shoot besides greatness.

   1. (intransitive,LGBTQslang) To be ata loss for words; to be left speechless.

      I had never been treated so rudely. Like, I wasgagged!

• blech
• retch

• ag-gag(etymologically unrelated)

• “gag”, inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.

• “gag”, inOneLook Dictionary Search.

• agg

FromEnglishgag.

gag

1. (Cantonese)joke;gag

Borrowed fromEnglishgag.

• IPA^(key):/ɡaɡ/

gag m (pluralgags)

1. joke

• “gag”, inTrésor de la langue française informatisé[Digitized Treasury of the French Language],2012.

Borrowed fromEnglishgag.

• IPA^(key):/ˈɡɛɡ/^[1]
• Rhymes:-ɛɡ

gag m (invariable)

1. gag,joke

   Synonyms:scherzo,freddura;see alsoThesaurus:battuta

• agg.

• Audio:

  (file)

gag m (pluralgags)

1. jay

Borrowed fromEnglishgag.

• IPA^(key):/ˈɡak/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes:-ak
• Syllabification:gag

gag m inan

1. (comedy)gag(joke or prank)

• gag inWielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• gag in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed fromFrenchgag.

gag n (pluralgaguri)

1. joke

Borrowed fromEnglishgag.

• IPA^(key):/ˈɡaɡ/[ˈɡaɣ̞]
• Rhymes:-aɡ
• Syllabification:gag

gag m (pluralgags)

1. gag(joke)

• “gag”, inDiccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8,Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish:Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

• (Standard Zhuang)IPA^(key):/kaːk˧/
• Tone numbers: gak⁸
• Hyphenation: gag

(Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium. Particularly: “From 各?”)

gag (Sawndip forms各or架or格,1957–1982 spellinggag)

1. by oneself;alone

   Synonym:(dialectal)haek

2. on one's own; by oneself; withoutpermission

   Synonym:(dialectal)gujgag

3. just;only

(Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium. Particularly: “From 咯? 咳?”)

gag (1957–1982 spellinggag)

1. toeject; tocough up

   Synonym:(dialectal)gak