gasket
Americannoun
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a rubber, metal, or rope ring, for packing a piston or placing around a joint to make it watertight.
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Nautical. any of a number of light lines for securing a furled sail to a boom, gaff, or yard.
noun
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a compressible packing piece of paper, rubber, asbestos, etc, sandwiched between the faces or flanges of a joint to provide a seal
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nautical a piece of line used as a sail stop
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slang to burst out in anger
Etymology
Origin of gasket
1615–25; perhaps < French garcette a plait of rope
Explanation
A piece of rubber that's used to fill the bit of space between two parts of an engine is called a gasket. If your car has an oil leak, with any luck you'll just need to replace a gasket. The job of a gasket is to prevent leaks and form a seal between two surfaces, usually the parts of a machine or system. Plumbing requires gaskets to prevent water seeping between pipes and fittings, and your car relies on its head gasket, which sits between the cylinder head and engine block, to keep it running. Colloquially, to "blow a gasket" means to get furious or extremely upset.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In a world where cars are citizens, an underdog cabbie named Wheely tries to become king of the road of Gasket City.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 8, 2019
Last year Crown sold a subsidiary automotive supply business called Detroit Gasket, started to put the proceeds into tin cans.
From Time Magazine Archive
Tyson charged at the Cyclops leader, Ma Gasket, her chain-mail dress spattered with mud and decorated with broken spears.
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
“Almost, great one. Ma Gasket and half her Cyclopes stopped in Napa. Something about a winery tour? They promised to be here by tomorrow evening.”
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
Gasket lay, his head bowed over on the table and an arm flung forward.
From Port O' Gold A History-Romance of the San Francisco Argonauts by Stellman, Louis J. (Louis John)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
