What does gasser mean?
Gasser is an informal noun best known for a person who talks at great length, often more than a conversation requires. It can also refer to a hard-hit baseball, a vehicle’s accelerator pedal, a person who administers lethal gas, or a device or source that produces or supplies gas. The talkative sense is often affectionate or teasing, though it can dismiss a speaker as tedious or self-important. The execution sense is grim and potentially offensive, while the baseball and automotive senses are characteristic of informal North American usage. Because several distinct meanings share one word, context is decisive. In conversation, gasser usually characterizes an overly talkative person; at the ballpark, it denotes a ball struck with exceptional force.
nounAn informal noun for a person who talks a great deal, especially at unnecessary length. It can also denote a hard-hit baseball, an accelerator pedal, a person who administers lethal gas, or a thing that produces or supplies gas.
- An informal term for an especially talkative person.
- In baseball slang, a hard-hit ball or powerful hit.
- In informal North American usage, an accelerator pedal.
- A person who administers gas, especially in a lethal gas execution.
- A device, installation, or source that produces or supplies gas.
"The group chat was lively once one gasser started telling everyone about his weekend."
"Every team needs one gasser who can keep the conversation going all evening."
"He connected with the pitch and sent a gasser over the center-field wall."
The plural is regular. In its most familiar sense, gassers refers to unusually talkative people.
"Two of the gassers kept talking after everyone else had gone home."
A gasser can be a screaming baseball, a friend who monologues for twenty minutes, or the pedal you stomp to leave a stoplight.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does gasser come from?
Gasser is an English noun formed in the 19th century from gas and the agent or instrument suffix -er. The word gas was coined in the early modern period by Jan Baptista van Helmont, adapting Greek khāzō, meaning “to boil.” The familiar sense for a talkative person is a figurative extension associated with someone “full of gas” or words.
Related word forms
How gasser is actually used
The talkable sense is informal and can be affectionate, teasing, or dismissive. The baseball and accelerator senses are chiefly North American informal or jargon usages, while the execution sense is grim and potentially offensive. The gas-supply sense tends to be technical.
Easily confused with gasser
A gasser is usually a very talkative person, whereas gassy describes something that contains, smells of, or is filled with gas.