Dictionary

gasper en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (General-American) audio
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From gasp + -er.

Meanings

1. A person or animal that gasps.
2. (informal) Something that causes one to gasp in shock, suspense, or awe.
   • Viserys unsheathes his dagger and says he’ll have his tongue for this, but his brother is quicker. In a classic Game Of Thrones gasper of a moment, Daemon whips out his sword and slices the top half of Vaemond’s head off like a watermelon. “He can keep his tongue,” the prince remarks, in a savage mic drop. 2022 October 10, Jenna Scherer, “House Of The Dragon drops its best episode yet”, in AV Club:
3. (slang) A cigarette.
   • He blows out the smoke from his gasper full of green shit. 2023 October 13, “Something to Hide” (track 4), in The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light, performed by The Streets:
   • Standing on the corner like a just-got-in-town jasper / I'm on a street corner with a gasper 1975, “Nighthawk Postcards (From Easy Street)”, in Nighthawks at the Diner, performed by Tom Waits:
   • The engineer shivers in the bright chill and lights a gasper of his own and tells Madame Psychosis through the intercom that the whole range of levels is fine. 1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […], Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 183:
4. (slang) One who is aroused by autoasphyxiation.
5. (slang) An adjustable air outlet over a passenger seat in aircraft.

Forms