subs. (common).—Empty talk; bounce; bombast.
1847. W. T. PORTER, ed., A Quarter Race in Kentucky, etc., p. 120. The boys said that was all GAS to scare them off.
1867. Chambers’s Journal, 29 June. I’ve piped off Sabbath GAS in my time I don’t deny, but under the woods we mostly tell the truth. Ibid. (1868), 15 Feb., p. 110. I don’t, an’ never could splice ends with them as blow off GAS about gold-digging—saying it’s plunder easy come an’ easy gone, seeking the root of evil, an’ other granny talk which hasn’t no meaning.
1860. EMERSON, The Conduct of Life, ‘Culture.’ It is odd that our people should have—not water on the brain, but a little GAS there.
1889. Globe, 31 Oct., p. 4, c. 4. It went on to state that the petitioner’s talk about a divorce was all GAS, and made a further appointment.
Verb. (common).—1. To talk idly; to brag; to bounce; to talk for talking’s sake. Fr., faire son cheval de corbillard (in American ‘to be on the tall grass’). See LONG BOW.
1872. London Figaro, 14 Dec. There is no good to be got out of GASSING about rallying around standards, uniting as one man to resist, etc.
1875. American English, in Chambers’s Journal, 25 Sept., p. 610. TO GAS is to talk only for the purpose of prolonging a debate.
1885. Society, 7 Feb., p. 7. Agitators and place-seekers may GAS as much as they please, but they cannot make black appear white.
TO TAKE THE GAS OUT OF ONE, verb. phr. (common).—To take the conceit out of; to take down a peg.
TO TURN ON THE GAS, verb. phr. (common).—To begin bouncing; also to GAS (q.v.).
TO TURN OFF THE GAS, verb. phr. (common).—To cease, or cause to cease, from bouncing, vapouring, or GAS (q.v.).
TO GAS ROUND, verb. phr. (common).—To seek information on the sly; also to GAS (q.v.).
