To have a strong desire for something, especially a beverage of some kind. Primarily heard in UK, Ireland. Good lord, I am gagging for a cup of tea. I just ran three miles, so yeah, I'm gagging for some water. Sure, when you first give up alcohol, you'll be gagging for your drink of choice, but that feeling lessens in time.

vulgar To have an intense desire for sex. Primarily heard in UK. Many people are under the impression that men are gagging for it 24 hours a day. After my girlfriend was away for two weeks, I was gagging for it and very happy to spend our weekend together in bed.

To be strikingly or shockingly disgusting, unappealing, or unattractive. Oh, Lisa's a terrible cook. Any dish she makes would surely gag a maggot! His physique was remarkable, but unfortunately he was cursed with a face that would gag a maggot. Yikes, this litter box is enough to gag a maggot. When was the last time you cleaned it?

A small gift that is meant to be humorous. Now that Dad has dentures, I bought him these wind-up chattering teeth as a gag gift. Everybody buys a $5 gag gift, and we draw numbers to see who gets which one. I got my brother this dumb little flower that shoots water as a gag gift. It's perfect for his Christmas stocking.

An expression of disgust or annoyance. The phrase is usually attributed to Southern California's "Valley Girls" (young women living in the San Fernando Valley) in the 1970s and '80s. Gag me with a spoon, that food smells horrible! We're having a pop quiz today? Ugh, gag me with a spoon. A: "Wait, Paul's coming too? Ugh, gag me with a spoon." B: "I know. That guy is just so annoying."

To have difficulty swallowing something. I can't possibly swallow a pill that big without gagging on it. Sounds like the cat is gagging on another hairball. When I had strep throat, I could only eat soup—my throat was so sore that I gagged on anything else.

A court order prohibiting those involved in a case from public reporting of or commentary on its details. Unfortunately, due to a gag order, we can't provide any new information to the press about the trial until it is finished. The defense has asked the judge to put everyone involved in the case under a gag order to ensure that the jurors are not influenced by biased media coverage. Hey, what are you doing? You can't comment on the case—you'd be violating the gag order!

To follow along with someone or something in prolonging a joke. Come on, they'll see right through us if you don't go along with the gag. I'm going to play a prank on Jenny when she walks in. Just go along with the gag, OK? Come on, nerd! Get under your desk and go along with the gag before the teacher gets here!

To waste time idly or aimlessly (some place); to loiter or loaf around (some place). You've been lollygagging around the house for the whole weekend—go play outside or something! Would you two quit lollygagging around and give me a hand?

To subject one who is involved in a court case to a legal order prohibiting one from public sharing of or commentary on its details. Unfortunately, we have been put under a gag order, meaning we can't provide any new information to the press about the trial until it is finished. The defense has asked the judge to put everyone involved in the case under a gag order to ensure that the jurors are not influenced by biased media coverage.

A gag or humorous element that is introduced early on in a story and then appears or is referred to again repeatedly. There's this weird running gag throughout the novel about the protagonist's dislike of avocado, but it falls flat every single time. What was supposed to be a silly once-off joke in the pilot episode turned into a running gag.

vulgar slang An instance of fellatio in which a man's penis goes into his partner's throat and causes them to gag.

Subject to a court order prohibiting those involved in a case from public reporting of or commentary on its details. Unfortunately we are under a gag order, meaning we can't provide any new information to the press about the trial until it is finished. The defense has asked the judge to put everyone involved in the case under a gag order to ensure that the jurors are not influenced by biased media coverage.

to choke on something; to retch on something. The dog is gagging on whatever you gave her. This fish is good, but I hope I don't gag on a bone.

If someone is gagging for it, they want very much to have sex. You could see he was gagging for it.

COMMON If someone is gagging for something, they want it very much. I arrived there late, hungry and gagging for a drink.

An exclamation indicating disgust. “Val-speak” was an idiom created in the 1970s by so-called Valley Girls, reputedly materialistic and self-centered young women who lived in California's San Fernando Valley (outside Los Angeles). Their vocabulary and speech patterns swept the country, propelled by popular music, television shows, and such movies as “Clueless” (based on Jane Austen's novel Emma). Like other fads, linguistic or otherwise, Val-speak disappeared almost as quickly as it had burst on the scene. Where once the staple “gag me with a spoon” (meaning that something was awful enough to induce nausea), was widely heard, it's gone the way of “well, dog my cat” and other archaisms. That's not to say that all Val-speak has disappeared. “As if ” (“that's not going to happen”), “duh!” (“that's obvious”), and the ubiquitous “like” are heard wherever the English language is used . . . and misused.