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Gaslight
Definitions
- 1 A lamp which operates by burning piped illuminating gas (or town gas). countable, historical, uncountable
"He was renovated and refreshed, his soul was strengthened, and his countenance waxed cheerful, and he began to feel like himself again, under the brown canopy of metropolitan smoke, and among the cabs and gaslights."
- 2 light yielded by the combustion of illuminating gas wordnet
- 3 The light produced by the burning gas in such a lamp. historical, uncountable
"A year since I strained my eyes very severely, and have never dared to use them much since by gaslight."
- 1 To manipulate someone such that they doubt their own memory, perceptions of reality, or sanity, typically for malevolent reasons. formal, historical, transitive
"Sylvia is a beautiful woman whose business-partner husband is "gaslighting" her. (That means he's trying to drive her crazy.)"
- 2 To deceive, trick, or lie to. broadly, historical, informal, proscribed, transitive
Etymology
From gas (“flammable gaseous hydrocarbon or hydrocarbon mixture used as a fuel”) + light.
From the 1938 stage play Gas Light by the English playwright and novelist Patrick Hamilton (1904–1962), and its 1940 and 1944 film adaptations, in which a husband attempts to convince his wife and others that she is insane by manipulating small elements of their environment. For more details, see also Gaslighting § Etymology on Wikipedia.
See also for "gaslight"
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