'The success of this artificial word is unique'. Meaning 'intestinal vapors' is from 1882. Modern scientific sense began 1779, with later secondary specialization to 'combustible mix of vapors' (1794, originally coal gas) 'anesthetic' (1894, originally nitrous oxide) and 'poison gas' (1900). Hunc spiritum, incognitum hactenus, novo nomine gas voco ('This vapor, hitherto unknown, I call by a new name, 'gas.'') [Helmont, van Helmont (1577-1644), probably influenced by Paracelsus, who used khaos in an occult sense of 'proper elements of spirits' or 'ultra-rarified water,' which was van Helmont's definition of gas. The sound of Dutch 'g' is roughly equivalent to that of Greek 'kh.' First used by Flemish chemist J.B. The sense evolved by 2016 to also mean 'dismiss or discredit someone's viewpoint.'ġ650s, from Dutch gas, probably from Greek khaos 'empty space' (see chaos). … I had been told that my tonsillectomy was “not that bad” or that the dentist whose hands were between my legs was “fixing my teeth,” … My own favorite embodiment of this horror, still enjoyed by late-show insomniacs, is the 1944 film Gaslight, a tale which so impressed the public imagination that even today the word “gaslight” is used to describe an attempt to destroy another’s perceptions of reality and, ultimately, sanity itself. The word seems to have received a boost in feminist literature in late 1970s. Paula: Well, then, I think I hear things. At last I can tell this to someone! Every night when my husband goes out… But every night, I’ve been all over the house, there’s never been another light turned on. Paula: Oh, then it really happens! I thought I imagined it!īrian: But all it means is someone else has turned it on. Is there anyone else in the house now, except us and Elizabeth? Among the observable clues has been the dimming of their home's gaslighting whenever (as she later learns) the husband goes secretly into the attic: he has convinced her that she is imagining this, until a family friend sees it, too, which confirms the clue that uncovers the crime.īrian: Tell me. It is later revealed that her criminal husband has been convincing her that she is insane in order to discredit her observations of his activities. This sense is from the 1944 film Gaslight, in which a 19th century woman (played by Ingrid Bergman, who won an Academy Award) appears to be going mad. Related: Gas-lighted gas-lighting gaslighting.Īs a verb meaning 'to deliberately make a person believe that they are insane,' by 1961, perhaps 1956. Used through the 19th and into the early 20th century as street and domestic lighting. Also gas-light, 'light, or a provision for light, produced by combustion of coal gas a gas-jet,' 1808, from (illuminating) gas (n.1) + light (n.).

Gaslight vapor support