Gash, s. A deep and wide wound; the mark of a wound.
Gasp, v. To open the mouth wide to catch breath; to emit breath by opening the mouth convulsively.
Gasp, s. The act of opening the mouth to catch breath; the short catch of the breath in the last agonies.
Gate, s. A frame of timber upon hinges to give a passage into enclosed grounds; a moveable part of a fence made of iron or timber.
Gaudy, a. Showy, splendid, tinselled.
Gauge, s. A measure, a standard.
Gaunt (Podiceps cristatus, Latham), s. A species of bird.
A full-grown male gaunt weighs between two and three pounds; length about two feet. The bill is two inches and three quarters long, dusky brown along the ridge of the upper mandible and at the point; the rest reddish flesh-colour; irides and lore crimson. The head is much enlarged by a crest of a dusky colour, standing up on each side; the cheeks and throat are surrounded by long feathers of a ferruginous colour; from the bill to the eye is a black line, above which is a white one; the chin is white; the hind part of the neck, and upper part of the body and wings, dusky brown; the under part of the neck, breast, and all beneath, beautiful glossy white; the primary quill-feathers dusky; some of the inner ones tipped with white, the rest are nearly all white, which, when the wing is closed, makes an oblique bar of that colour across it; legs dusky on the outside; some wholly dusky green.
This bird is indigenous to England; it breeds in the meres of Shropshire and Cheshire, and in the fens of Lincolnshire. The nest is large, composed of a variety of aquatic plants; it is not attached to any thing, but floats amongst the reeds and flags, penetrated by the water. The female lays four white eggs, about the size of that of a pigeon.—Montagu.
Gazehound, s. A hound that pursues not by the scent, but by the eye; an ancient name of the greyhound.