gaslight

Definitions

Literally gas + light (the 'lamp' sense) = a gas-burning lamp from the 19th century. The verb's psychological meaning is unrelated to the literal parts — it comes entirely from the 1938 play and 1944 film Gaslight, in which a husband secretly dims the gas lamps and insists to his wife that nothing has changed, driving her to doubt her own perception.

Why It Means This

This is a rare case where the modern meaning has nothing to do with the word parts. 'Gas' + 'light' just describes an old lamp. The famous psychological sense was coined by a single piece of fiction: the antagonist dims the lights and denies it, so 'to gaslight' someone became shorthand for making them distrust their own reality. The word exploded in everyday use only in the 2010s.

Common Collocations

• 1.gaslight era煤气灯时代
• 2.gaslight lamp煤气灯
• 3.gaslight illumination煤气灯照明

Example Sentences

• 1.

  Before electricity, the whole street was lit by gaslight.

• 2.

  Don't let him gaslight you into thinking you imagined it.

• 3.

  She slowly realized her boss had been gaslighting her for months.