Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GAOL, v.t.

To imprison; to confine in prison. Bacon.

GAOL-DE-LIV'ER-Y, n.

A judicial process for clearing jails of criminals, by trial and condemnation or acquittal.

GAOL-ER, n.

The keeper of a gaol or prisoner; a jailer.

GAP, n. [See Gape and Gab. Gipsy, geb, Hindoo, gibah, a hole.]

1. An opening in any thing made by breaking or parting; as, a gap in a fence or wall.
2. A breach. Manifold miseries ensued by the opening of that gap to all that side of Christendom. Knolles.
3. Any avenue or passage; way of entrance or departure. Dryden.
4. A breach; a defect; a flaw; as, a gap in honor or reputation. Shak. More.
5. An interstice; a vacuity. A third can fill the gap with laughing. Swift.
6. A hiatus; a chasm; as, a gap between words. Pope. To stop a gap, to secure a weak point; to repair a defect. To stand in the gap, to expose one's self for the protection of something; to make defense against any assailing danger. Ezek. xxii.

GAPE, n.

A gaping. Addison.

GAPE, v.i. [Sax. geapan; Sw. gapa; D. gaapen; G. gaffen; Dan. gaber; Ar. خَابَ jauba, to split, tear or cut open.]

1. To open the mouth wide, from sleepiness, drowsiness or dullness; to yawn. Swift.
2. To open the mouth for food, as young birds. Dryden.
3. To gape for or after, to desire earnestly; to crave; to look and long for; as, men often gape after court favor. The hungry grave for her due tribute gapes. Denham. To gape at, in a like sense, is hardly correct.
4. To open in fissures or crevices; as, a gaping rock. May that ground gape and swallow me alive. Shak.
5. To have a hiatus; as, one vowel gaping on another. Dryden.
6. To open the mouth in wonder or surprise; as, the gaping fool; the gaping crowd.
7. To utter sound with open throat. Roscommon.
8. To open the mouth with hope or expectation. Hudibras.
9. To open the mouth with a desire to injure or devour. They have gaped upon me with their mouth. Job xvi.

GAP'ER, n.

1. One who gapes; a yawner.
2. One who opens his mouth for wonder and stares foolishly.
3. One who longs or craves. Carew.
4. A fish with six or seven bands and tail undivided. Pennant.

GAP'ING, ppr.

Opening the mouth wide from sleepiness, dullness, wonder or admiration; yawning; opening in fissures; craving.

GAP-TOOTH-ED, a.

Having interstices between the teeth. Dryden.

GAR, n. [Sax.]

1. In Saxon, a dart, a weapon; as, in Edgar, or Eadgar, a happy weapon; Ethelgar, noble weapon. Gibson. This may be the Ch. גירא or גררא, an arrow, a dart; Sam. an arrow.
2. Several kinds of fish are known by this name.

GAR'A-GAY, a.

A rapacious fowl of Mexico of the size of the kite. Dict.

GARB, n. [Fr. garbe, looks, countenance; It. and Sp. garbo; Norm. garbs, clothes, dress; Russ. gerb, arms; from the root of gear.]

1. Dress; clothes; habit; as, the garb of a clergyman or judge.
2. Fashion or mode of dress. Denham.
3. Exterior appearance; looks. Shak.
4. In heraldry, a sheaf of corn. [Fr. gerbe, Sp. garba.]

GAR'BAGE, n. [I know not the component parts of this word.]

The bowels of an animal; refuse parts of flesh offal. Shak. Dryden.

GAR'BAG-ED, a.

Stripped of the bowels. Sherwood.

GARB'ED, a.

Dressed; habited.

GAR'BEL, n.

The plank next the keel of a ship. [See Garboard-streak.]

GAR'BLE, v.t. [Sp. garbillar; It. cribrare, crivellare; Fr. cribler; L. cribro, cribello. Qu. Ar. غَرْبَلَ garbala, or Ch. כרבל, to sift, to bolt. Class Rb, No. 30, 34, 46.]

1. Properly, to sift or bolt; to separate the fine or valuable parts of a substance from the coarse and useless parts, or from dross or dirt; as, to garble spices.
2. To separate; to pick; to cull out. Dryden. Locke.

GAR'BLED, pp.

Sifted; bolted; separated; culled out.

GAR'BLER, n.

1. One who garbles, sifts or separates. A. garbler of spices, is an officer of great antiquity in London.
2. One who picks out, culls or selects.

GAR'BLES, n. [plur.]

The dust, soil or filth, severed from good spices, drugs, &c. Cyc.

GAR'BLING, ppr.

Sifting; separating; sorting; culling.

GAR'BOARD, n.

The garboard plank, in a ship, is the first plank fastened on the keel on the outside. Bailey. Garboard-streak, in a ship, is the first range or streak of planks laid on a ship's bottom next the keel. Mar. Dict.

GAR'BOIL, n. [Old Fr. garbouil; It. garbuglio.]

Tumult; uproar. [Not used.]

GARD, n. [or v. See GUARD and WARD.]

GAR'DEN, n. [G. garten; W. garth; It. giardino; Sp. jardin; Fr. id.; Port. jardim; Arm. jardd, jardin, or gardd. The first syllable is the Sax. geard, Goth. gards, Eng. yard, an inclosed place. The Saxon is ortgeard, Dan. urtegaard, Sw. örtegård, wortyard, an inclosure for herbs. The Irish is gairdin or garrdha; Hungarian, korth; L. hortus. In Slavonic, gard, Russ. gorod, signifies a town or city, and the derivative verb goroju, to inclose with a hedge. Hence Stuttgard, Novogrod or Novogardia. The primary sense of garden is an inclosed place, and inclosures were originally made with hedges, stakes or palisades. It is probable that in the East, and in the pastoral state, men had little or no inclosed land except such as was fenced for the protection of herbs and fruits, and for villages. See Coxe's Russ. B. 4.]

1. A piece of ground appropriated to the cultivation of herbs or plants, fruits and flowers; usually near a mansion-house. Land appropriated to the raising of culinary herbs and roots for domestic use, is called a kitchen-garden; that appropriated to flowers and shrubs, is called a flower-garden and that to fruits, is called a fruit-garden. But these uses are sometimes blended.
2. A rich, well cultivated spot or tract of country; a delightful spot. The intervals on the river Connecticut are all a garden. Lombardy is the garden of Italy. Garden, in composition, is used adjectively, as garden-mold, a rich fine mold or soil; garden-tillage, the tillage used in cultivating gardens.