gasket

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3][4][5] Several dictionaries take it as perhaps or probably borrowed from French garcette (“thin rope, braided rope”),^{[2][6][7][8][9][10]} literally "little girl",^[2][11][8] a diminutive of Old French garce (“young woman, girl; also harlot”),^[2][7] the feminine of gars (“boy”), related to garçon.^[11][6][7] In Anglo-Norman garce is recorded from about 1185, meaning a young girl or a servant girl.^[12] The rope sense would then be a figurative use of the word for a girl.^[11][13] The OED, revised in 2012, calls the word of unknown origin: the French word is recorded only from 1630, of a plaited hairstyle, and since 1636 for a braided rope used to secure sails, and it may or may not be the same word as garcete, a young woman of low status (about 1227).^[5] The OED also compares Spanish cajeta and Portuguese gaxeta, both names of kinds of cordage, and Italian gaschetta (1798), which it takes as probably from English;^[5] Barnhart likewise thinks the Italian word was formed separately or borrowed from English.^[3] Barnhart adds that the French word, recorded from 1643, fits the earliest English form, “caskette”, badly, though English could still have taken it from French;^[3] Weekley dates the French word to 1634 and compares the -k- of casket.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

A rope, plaited cord or strip of canvas used to tie a furled sail to a yard or boom: 1620, in J. Taylor's Praise of Hemp-seed.^[5] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster Unabridged date the first record to 1622, in the form caskette,^[3][7] followed by gassit (1626) and gasket (1630).^[3] Weekley and Ayto note the form gassit, used by Captain John Smith.^[14][11]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a sailors' term for a small rope.^[2][11][10] In the early 19th century it passed to engineering, first for tow or plaited hemp soaked in grease or tar and used to pack a piston or caulk a joint (1828, now rare), and in the same year for a flat ring or sheet of soft material placed between metal surfaces to make a joint tight, the main sense today.^[5][11] Barnhart and Etymonline date the packing sense to 1829.^[3][2] The verb followed in 1891, for fitting a joint with a gasket, and in 1892, in Stevenson and Osbourne's The Wrecker, for securing a sail with gaskets.^[5] The slang phrase blow a gasket, to explode with anger, is recorded in American English from 1930, also as bust a gasket.^[15] American slang also used gasket for a doughnut or a hotcake (from 1945), from the shape, and among drug users for anything that seals a needle to a syringe (1968).^[15]

Timeline

• 1620 – a rope or plaited cord for tying a furled sail.^[5] Barnhart's first record, caskette, is from 1622.^[3]
• 1626 – the form gassit.^[3]
• 1828 – greased tow or plaited hemp used to pack a piston or a joint (now rare).^[5] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1829.^[3][2]
• 1828 – a flat ring or sheet of soft material sealing a joint between metal surfaces.^[5]
• 1891 – verb, to fit or seal with a gasket.^[5]
• 1892 – verb, to secure a sail with gaskets.^[5]
• 1930 – blow a gasket, to explode with rage.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A flat ring or sheet of rubber, cork, paper or other soft material pressed between the faces of a joint to keep it airtight or watertight: The mechanic replaced the worn gasket on the pump.^[16][7][5]
2. (nautical) A rope, cord or band used to tie a furled sail to a yard or boom.^[16][7][5]
3. Plaited hemp or greased tow used for packing a piston or a pipe joint; now rare.^[7][5]
4. blow a gasket (slang): to lose one's temper violently.^[16][15]

Verb

1. To fit or seal with a gasket.^[7][5]
2. (nautical) To secure a sail with gaskets.^[7][5]

Related words

• garçon

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
13. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
14. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins