Progression

gaslight (GAS-lyt) verb tr.

To manipulate psychologically.

[From the title of the classic movie Gaslight (1940 and its 1944 remake), based on author Patrick Hamilton's play. The title refers to a man's use of seemingly unexplained dimming of gaslights (among other tricks) in the house in an attempt to manipulate his wife into thinking she is going insane. See more about this movie at http://imdb.com/title/tt0036855/ ]

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=gaslight

"Cutting off another couple hours with a zoomy Concorde look-alike would be nice, if such a plane could be delivered at an affordable cost. Here, though, anyone might wonder if the media are being gaslighted along with Airbus."
Holman W. Jenkins Jr.; Haven't Shareholders Had Enough Chicken? The Wall Street Journal (New York); Apr 4, 2001.

The word gaslight is an excellent example of how a language grows. It shows how a word's meaning can take unexpected paths in its evolution. The noun gaslight has not only turned into a verb but also taken a sense entirely unrelated to its inherent meaning.

It's a sign of cinema's hold on popular culture that this word from a movie title has entered the English lexicon in a new incarnation. This week we've collected five words from movie titles that have taken similar turns in the English language.

-Anu Garg
anu@wordsmith.org

   

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Posted by Keya at July 11, 2005 01:34 PM