Words · Familiar
gagged
/ɡæɡd/ · 6 letters · 4 distinct letters
A form of gag.
- verb
prevent from speaking out
The press was gagged
- verb
be too tight; rub or press
This neckband is choking the cat
- verb
tie a gag around someone's mouth in order to silence them
The burglars gagged the home owner and tied him to a chair
- noun
a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter
he told a very funny joke
- noun
restraint put into a person's mouth to prevent speaking or shouting
Word history
History of gag
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.
From Wiktionary, under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0
Why this word counts
- Where it comes from
- Listed in the English Speller Database at size 35: the core list of everyday words.
- How common it is
- Used about once in every million words.
- In the spelling bee
- Daily answer A standard word with a definition we can show, so it can be a daily answer.