- gasoline
- coined 1865 as gasolene, from gas (q.v.) + chemical suffix -ine/-ene. current spelling is 1871; shortened form gas first recorded Amer.Eng. 1905. Gas station first recorded 1932.
- napalm
- 1942, from na(phthenic) palm(itic) acids, used in manufacture of the chemical that thickens gasoline. The verb is 1950, from the noun.
- bowser
- Australian/New Zealand for "fuel oil pump," 1921, from S.F. Bowser & Co., Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S., founded by the inventor of the gasoline pump, whose product predominated Down Under.
- unleaded
- 1611, from un- (1) "not" + leaded (see lead (n.)). In ref. to gasoline, from 1965.
- petrol
- 1895, "gasoline," from Fr. pétrol (1892); earlier used (1585) in ref. to the unrefined substance, from M.Fr. petrole "petroleum," from O.Fr. (13c.), from M.L. petroleum (see petroleum).
- gas
- 1658, from Du. gas, probably from Gk. khaos "empty space" (see chaos). The sound of Du. "g" is roughly equivalent to that of Gk. "kh." First used by Flem. chemist J.B. van Helmont (1577-1644), probably influenced by Paracelsus, who used khaos in occult sense of "proper elements of spirits" or "ultra-rarified water," which was van Helmont's definition of gas. Modern scientific sense began 1779, focused on "combustible mix of vapors" (1794, originally coal gas); "anesthetic" (1894, originally nitrous oxide); and "poison gas" (1900). Meaning "intestinal vapors" is from 1882. Slang sense of "empty talk" is from 1847; slang meaning "something exciting or excellent" first attested 1953, from earlier hepster slang gasser in the same sense (1944). Gas also meant "fun, a joke" in Anglo-Irish and was used so by Joyce (1914). As short for gasoline (q.v.), it is Amer.Eng., first recorded 1905.