Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GAD'WALL, n.

A fowl of the genus Anas, inhabiting the north of Europe. – Pennant.

GAE'LIC, or GA'LIC, a. [from Gael, Gaul, Gallia.]

An epithet denoting what belongs to the Gaels, tribes of Celtic origin inhabiting the highlands of Scotland; as, the Gaelic language.

GAE'LIC, n.

The language of the highlanders of Scotland.

GAFF, n. [Ir. gaf, a hook; Sp. and Port. gafa; Shemitic כפף, כפה, to bend.]

1. A harpoon.
2. A sort of boom or pole, used in small ships, to extend the upper edge of the mizzen, and of those sails whose foremost edge is joined to the mast by hoops or lacings, and which are extended by a boom below, as the main sail of a sloop. [Qu. Sax. geafle, a pole.] – Mar. Dict.

GAF'FER, n. [Qu. Chal. and Heb. גבר gebar, a man, vir; or Sax. gefere, a companion, a peer; or Sw. gubbe, an old man.]

A word of respect, which seems to have degenerated into a term of familiarity or contempt. [Little used.] – Gay.

GAF'FLE, n. [Sax. geaflas, chops, spurs on cocks.]

1. An artificial spur put on cocks when they are set to fight.
2. A steel lever to bend cross-bows. – Ainsworth.

GAG, n.

Something thrust into the mouth and throat to hinder speaking.

GAG, v.t. [W. cegiaw, to choke, to strangle, from cèg, a choking. Cêg signifies the mouth, an opening.]

1. To stop the mouth by thrusting something into the throat, so as to hinder speaking. – Johnson.
2. To keck; to heave with nausea. [In Welsh, gag is an opening or cleft; gagenu, to open, chap or gape.]

GAGE, n. [Fr. gage, a pledge, whence gager, to pledge; engager, to engage; G. wagen, to wage, to hazard or risk; wage, a balance; D. waagen, to venture, Sw. våga, Eng. to wage. It seems to be allied to wag, weigh. The primary sense is to throw, to lay, or deposit. If the elements are Bg, Wg, the original French orthography was guage.]

1. A pledge or pawn; something laid down or given as a security for the performance of some act to be done by the person depositing the thing, and which is to be forfeited by non-performance. It is used of a movable thing; not of land or other immovable. There I throw my gage. – Shak.
2. A challenge to combat; that is, a glove, a cap, a gauntlet, or the like, cast on the ground by the challenger, and taken up by the accepter of the challenge. – Encyc.
3. A measure, or rule of measuring; a standard. [See Gauge.] – Young.
4. The number of feet which a ship sinks in the water.
5. Among letter-founders, a piece of hard wood variously notched, used to adjust the dimensions, slopes, &c. of the various sorts of letters. – Encyc.
6. An instrument in joinery made to strike a line parallel to the straight side of a board. – Encyc. A sliding-gage, a tool used by mathematical instrument makers for measuring and setting off distances. – Encyc. Sea-gage, an instrument for finding the depth of the sea. – Encyc. Tide-gage, an instrument for determining the highth of the tides. – Encyc. Wind-gage, an instrument for measuring the force of the wind on any given surface. – Encyc. Weather-gage, the windward side of a ship.

GAGE, v.t.

1. To pledge; to pawn; to give or deposit as a pledge or security for some other act; to wage or wager. [Obs.] – Shak.
2. To bind by pledge, caution or security; to engage. – Shak.
3. To measure; to take or ascertain the contents of a vessel, cask or ship; written also gauge.

GA'GED, pp.

Pledged; measured.

GA'GER, n.

One who gages or measures the contents.

GAG'GER, n.

One that gags.

GAG'GLE, v.i. [D. gaggelen; G. gackern; coinciding with cackle.]

To make a noise like a goose. – Bacon.

GAG'GLING, n.

The noise of geese.

GA'GING, ppr.

Pledging; measuring the contents.

GAHN'ITE, n. [from Gahn, the discoverer.]

A mineral, called also automalite and octahedral corundum. It is always crystalized in regular octahedrons, or in tetrahedrons with truncated angles. – Cleaveland. Ure.

GAI'LY, adv. [from gay, and better written gayly.]

1. Splendidly; with finery or showiness.
2. Joyfully; merrily.

GAIN, a.

Handy; dextrous. [Obs.]

GAIN, n.¹ [Fr. gain.]

1. Profit; interest; something obtained as an advantage. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. – Phil. iii.
2. Unlawful advantage. – 2 Cor. xii.
3. Overplus in computation; any thing opposed to loss.

GAIN, n.² [W. gàn, a mortise; ganu, to contain.]

In architecture, a beveling shoulder; a lapping of timbers, or the cut that is made for receiving a timber. – Encyc.

GAIN, v.i.

1. To have advantage or profit; to grow rich; to advance in interest or happiness. Thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbors by extortion. – Ezek. xxii.
2. To encroach; to advance on; to come forward by degrees; with on; as, the ocean or river gains on the land.
3. To advance nearer; to gain ground on; with on; as, a fleet horse gains on his competitor.
4. To get ground; to prevail against or have the advantage. The English have not only gained upon the Venetians in the Levant, but have their cloth in Venice itself. – Addison.
5. To obtain influence with. My good behavior had so far gained on the emperor, that I began to conceive hopes of liberty. – Swift. To gain the wind, in sea language, is to arrive on the windward side of another ship.

GAIN, v.t. [Fr. gagner; Arm. gounit; Sw. gagna; Sax. gynan; Sp. ganar; Port. ganhar; Heb. Ch. and Syr. קנה, Ar. قَنََا kana, to gain, to possess. Class Gn, No. 49, 50, 51. The radical sense is to take, or rather to extend to, to reach.]

1. To obtain by industry or the employment of capital; to get as profit or advantage; to acquire. Any industrious person may gain a good living in America; but it is less difficult to gain property, than it is to use it with prudence. Money at interest may gain five, six, or seven per cent. What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? – Matth. xvi.
2. To win; to obtain by superiority or success; as, to gain a battle or a victory; to gain a prize; to gain a cause in law.
3. To obtain; to acquire; to procure; to receive; as, to gain favor; to gain reputation. For fame with toil we gain, but lose with ease. – Pope.
4. To obtain an increase of any thing; as, to gain time.
5. To obtain or receive any thing, good or bad; as, to gain harm and loss. – Acts xxvii.
6. To draw into any interest or party; to win to one's side; to conciliate. To gratify the queen, and gain the court. – Dryden. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. – Matth. xviii.
7. To obtain as a suitor. – Milton.
8. To reach; to attain to; to arrive at; as, to gain the top of a mountain; to gain a good harbor. To gain into, to draw or persuade to join in. He gained Lepidus into his measures. – Middleton. To gain over, to draw to another party or interest; to win over. To gain ground, to advance in any undertaking; to prevail; to acquire strength or extent; to increase.

GAIN'A-BLE, a.

That may be obtained or reached. – Sherwood.

GAIN'AGE, n.

In old laws, the same as wainage, that is guainage; the horses, oxen and furniture of the wain, or the instruments for carrying on tillage, which, when a villain was amerced, were left free, that cultivation might not be interrupted. The word signifies also the land itself, or the profit made by cultivation. – Encyc.