gast

G2A1S1T1
UK/ɡɑːst/US/ɡæst/

verb

To frighten.

OriginMiddle English gasten ← Old English gǣstan ← Proto-Germanic *gaistijaną →
Less commonScrabble 5
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

gast1

verbgast (third-person singular simple present gasts, present participle gasting, simple past and past participle gasted)

present singular third person gasts · participle present gasting · participle past gasted · past gasted

  1. obsoleteTo frighten.

    [H]ee charges home my vnprouided body, lancht mine arme, but when he ſaw my beſt alarumd ſpirits, bould in the quarrels, rights, rouſd to the encounter, or whether gaſted by the noyſe I made, but ſodainly he fled.

    c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], signature [D4], recto

Gast2

proper nounGast (plural Gasts)

plural Gasts

  1. A surname.

Origin

gast · verb

  1. Proto-Germanic*gaistijaną
  2. Old Englishgǣstan
  3. Middle Englishgasten
  4. Englishgast

From Middle English gasten, from Old English gǣstan, from Proto-Germanic *gaistijaną. Also spelled ghast due to association with ghost.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

Gast · proper noun

  1. Old Frenchgast“wasteland”
  2. EnglishGast

* As a German surname, from Gast (“guest”) (see below). * As an Alemannic German surname, shortened from the personal Germanic names Arbogast and Gastolf (compare German Gasthof). * As a French surname, from Old French gast (“wasteland”).

More words from Old French

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with gast

lastpastaskedcastpassedcontrastvastblastmasthastovercastcasteoutcastclassedprecastavastrecastchastebastaghastoutlastgasseddowncastkast
All rhymes →

Anagrams

stag
Cite this entry
APA

gast. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gast

MLA

“gast.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gast. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gast,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gast.

Source: gast on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.