Decrease and Gag

noun

• A change downward.
  • usage: "there was a decrease in his temperature as the fever subsided"; "there was a sharp drop-off in sales"
  • synonyms: lessening, drop-off
• A process of becoming smaller or shorter.
  • synonyms: decrement
• The amount by which something decreases.
  • synonyms: decrement
• The act of decreasing or reducing something.
  • synonyms: diminution, reduction, step-down

verb

• Decrease in size, extent, or range.
  • usage: "The amount of homework decreased towards the end of the semester"; "The cabin pressure fell dramatically"; "her weight fell to under a hundred pounds"; "his voice fell to a whisper"
  • synonyms: diminish, lessen, fall
• Make smaller.
  • usage: "He decreased his staff"
  • synonyms: lessen, minify

• (v.t.) To cause to grow less; to diminish gradually; as, extravagance decreases one's means.
• (v.) A becoming less; gradual diminution; decay; as, a decrease of revenue or of strength.
• (n.) To grow less, -- opposed to increase; to be diminished gradually, in size, degree, number, duration, etc. or in strength, quality or excellence; as, they days decrease in length from June to December.
• (v.) The wane of the moon.

noun

• A humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter.
  • usage: "he told a very funny joke"; "he knows a million gags"; "thanks for the laugh"; "he laughed unpleasantly at his own jest"; "even a schoolboy's jape is supposed to have some ascertainable point"
  • synonyms: joke, laugh, jest, jape
• Restraint put into a person's mouth to prevent speaking or shouting.
  • synonyms: muzzle

verb

• Prevent from speaking out.
  • usage: "The press was gagged"
  • synonyms: muzzle
• Be too tight; rub or press.
  • usage: "This neckband is choking the cat"
  • synonyms: choke, fret
• Tie a gag around someone's mouth in order to silence them.
  • usage: "The burglars gagged the home owner and tied him to a chair"
  • synonyms: muzzle
• Make jokes or quips.
  • usage: "The students were gagging during dinner"
  • synonyms: quip
• Struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake.
  • usage: "he swallowed a fishbone and gagged"
  • synonyms: choke, strangle, suffocate
• Cause to retch or choke.
  • synonyms: choke
• Make an unsuccessful effort to vomit; strain to vomit.
  • synonyms: heave, retch

• (n.) Something thrust into the mouth or throat to hinder speaking.
• (n.) A speech or phrase interpolated offhand by an actor on the stage in his part as written, usually consisting of some seasonable or local allusion.
• (v.i.) To introduce gags or interpolations. See Gag, n., 3.
• (v.t.) To cause to heave with nausea.
• (v.i.) To heave with nausea; to retch.
• (n.) A mouthful that makes one retch; a choking bit; as, a gag of mutton fat.
• (v.t.) To pry or hold open by means of a gag.
• (v.t.) To stop the mouth of, by thrusting sometimes in, so as to hinder speaking; hence, to silence by authority or by violence; not to allow freedom of speech to.