Meanings
- rareuncountableA gasping quality.
“It is a proof before the letter, Mr Powderell—the painter is not known,” answered Trumbull, with a certain gaspingness in his last words, after which he pursed up his lips and stared round him.
1872, George Eliot, chapter 60, in Middlemarch, volume 3, page 3281 more example
It will, I think, be conceded that the rule, so stated, appears very arbitrary to a class; and I suppose that many teachers, like myself, have experienced “a certain gaspingness” in laying it down.
1894, F. Morley, “Three Notes on Permutations”, in Bulletin of the New York Mathematical Society, volume 3, page 142
Origin
Cite this entry
gaspingness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gaspingness
“gaspingness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gaspingness. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gaspingness,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gaspingness.
Source: gaspingness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.