To gaslight is to manipulate someone psychologically into believing they are crazy, or that the truth is incorrect. The 1938 play, Gas Light, featured a man psychologically tormenting his wife. Movies based on the play followed in Great Britain in 1940 and in the United States in 1944.
They realized he was gaslighting when they found proof of his deceptive manipulations.
- the light produced by burning illuminating gas
- a gas jet or burner
of or suggesting the period when gaslight was used for lighting: gaslight melodrama
- Light produced by burning illuminating gas.
- A gas burner or lamp.
(third-person singular simple present gaslights, present participle gaslighting, simple past and past participle gaslighted)