Gasp
Gasp (gȧsp) , intransitive verb
[Old English gaspen, gaispen, to yawn, gasp, Icelandic geispa to yawn; akin to Swedish gaspa, Danish gispe to gasp.]
1.
To open the mouth wide in catching the breath, or in laborious respiration; to labor for breath; to respire convulsively; to pant violently.
She gasps and struggles hard for life.
2.
To pant with eagerness; to show vehement desire.
Quenching the gasping furrows' thirst with rain.
Gasp , transitive verb
To emit or utter with gasps; -- with forth, out, away, etc.
And with short sobs he gasps away his breath.
Gasp , noun
The act of opening the mouth convulsively to catch the breath; a labored respiration; a painful catching of the breath.
Collocations (1)
At the last gasp , at the point of death. — Addison