Unnumbered source etymology · variant 1/2
Original entry ↗To experience the vomiting reflex. · To cause to heave with nausea. · To restrain someone's speech by blocking his or her mouth. · To pry or hold open by means of a 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.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
This page abbreviates 4 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "gaggen"
},
"expansion": "Middle English gaggen"
},
{
"name": "der",
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"1": "en",
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"3": "gaghals",
"4": "gag-háls"
},
"expansion": "Old Norse gag-háls"
},
{
"name": "gloss",
"args": {
"1": "\"with head thrown backwards\"; > Norwegian dialectal <i class=\"Latn mention\" lang=\"no\">gaga</i> (“bent backwards”)"
},
"expansion": "(\"with head thrown backwards\"; > Norwegian dialectal gaga (“bent backwards”))"
}
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"lexical": [
{
"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"To experience the vomiting reflex.",
"To cause to heave with nausea.",
"To restrain someone's speech by blocking his or her mouth.",
"To pry or hold open by means of a gag."
],
"tags": [
"intransitive",
"transitive"
],
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