Gasp | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Găsp, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. [imp. & p. p. GASPED (găspt); p. pr. & vb. n. GASPING.] [Icel. geispa, Sw. gäspa, Dan. gispe, to gape, yawn.]

Sense 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. Lloyd.

Sense 2. To pant with eagerness; to show a vehement desire.

Quenching the gasping furrows' thirst with rain. Spencer.

verbtransitive

To emit with gaspings; — with forth, out, away, &c.

And with short sobs he gasps away his breath. Dryden.

noun

n. The act of opening the mouth to catch the breath; a laboured respiration; a painful catching of the breath.

At the last gasp, at the point of death; in great extremity. Addison.