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Gag vs Pun - What's the difference?

gag | pun |

In transitive terms the difference between gag and pun

is that gag is to restrain someone's speech by blocking his or her mouth while pun is to beat; strike with force; ram; pound, as in a mortar; reduce to powder.

As nouns the difference between gag and pun

is that gag is a device to restrain speech, such as a rag in the mouth secured with tape or a rubber ball threaded onto a cord or strap while pun is a joke or type of wordplay in which similar senses or sounds of two words or phrases, or different senses of the same word, are deliberately confused.

As verbs the difference between gag and pun

is that gag is to experience the vomiting reflex while pun is to beat; strike with force; ram; pound, as in a mortar; reduce to powder.

As an abbreviation gag

is group specific antigens.

gag

English

Abbreviation

(Abbreviation) (head) (Group-specific antigen)
  • group specific antigens

    • Noun

    (en noun)
  • A device to restrain speech, such as a rag in the mouth secured with tape or a rubber ball threaded onto a cord or strap.
  • (legal) An order or rule forbidding discussion of a case or subject.
  • A joke or other mischievous prank.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=May 20 , author=Nathan Rabin , title=TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Marge Gets A Job” (season 4, episode 7; originally aired 11/05/1992) , work=The Onion AV Club citation , page= , passage=We all know how genius “Kamp Krusty,” “A Streetcar Named Marge,” “Homer The Heretic,” “Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie” and “Mr. Plow” are, but even the relatively unheralded episodes offer wall-to-wall laughs and some of the smartest, darkest, and weirdest gags ever Trojan-horsed into a network cartoon with a massive family audience.}}
  • A convulsion of the upper digestive tract.
  • (archaic) A mouthful that makes one retch or choke.
    • a gag of mutton fat
    (Lamb)

    Synonyms

    * (legal) gag order * (joke) See also

    Derived terms

    * sight gag

    Verb

  • To experience the vomiting reflex.
    • He gagged when he saw the open wound.
  • To cause to heave with nausea.
  • (rfc-sense) To : to order a recruit to exercise until he "gags" (usually spoken in exaggeration).
  • To restrain someone's speech by blocking his or her mouth.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
    • , title= , chapter=1 citation , passage=“[…] Captain Markam had been found lying half-insensible, gagged and bound, on the floor of the sitting-room, his hands and feet tightly pinioned, and a woollen comforter wound closely round his mouth and neck?; whilst Mrs. Markham's jewel-case, containing valuable jewellery and the secret plans of Port Arthur, had disappeared. […]”}}
    ''The victims could not speak because the burglar had gagged them with duct tape.
  • (figuratively) To restrain someone's speech without using physical means.
    • When the financial irregularities were discovered, the CEO gagged everyone in the accounting department.
  • * Macaulay
    • The time was not yet come when eloquence was to be gagged , and reason to be hoodwinked.
  • To pry or hold open by means of a gag.
  • * Fortescue (translation)
    • mouths gagged to such a wideness

    Derived terms

    * gag me with a spoon

    pun

    English

    (wikipedia pun)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) . More at (l).

    Verb

  • To beat; strike with force; ram; pound, as in a mortar; reduce to powder.
  • * Shakespeare
    • He would pun thee into shivers with his fist.

    Etymology 2

    From a special use of Etymology 1 .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A joke or type of wordplay in which similar senses or sounds of two words or phrases, or different senses of the same word, are deliberately confused.
  • * {{quote-book
    • , title=(Mansfield Park) , last=Austen , first=Jane , authorlink=Jane Austen , year=1814 citation , volume=one, chapter VI , publisher= }}
    "Certainly, my home at my uncle's brought me acquainted with a circle of admirals. Of Rears'' and ''Vices I saw enough. Now do not be suspecting me of a pun , I entreat."
  • *:Comment : Austen was likely referring to spanking/flogging, then common naval punishments, known as (le vice Anglais) .
    • Usage notes
    * Because some puns are based on pronunciation, puns are more obvious when spoken aloud. For example: “This rock is gneiss, but don’t take it for granite.” This reads (with a US accent) similarly to “This rock is nice, but don’t take it for granted.” (Both “gneiss” and “granite” are types of rock.)
    Synonyms
    * See also

    Verb

  • To make or tell a pun; make a play on words.
    • We punned about the topic until all around us groaned.
    See also
    * antanaclasis * paronomasia

    Anagrams

    * ----