Gag
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- For other meanings of the word "gag", see gag (disambiguation).
A gag is usually a device designed to prevent speech, often as a restraint device to stop the subject from calling for help. This is usually done by blocking the mouth, partially or completely, or trying to prevent the tongue, lips, or jaw from moving in the normal patterns of speech, and to make the subject unable to make a loud vocal noise. They are often much less effective in reality than in crime fiction. They carry a strong risk of killing the victim by suffocation. In fact, the more "effective" a gag appears to be, the more hazardous it is.
A gag of cloth tied or strapped over the mouth and nose is sometimes self-applied for the practical purpose of keeping paint spray or blown sand and dust out of the lungs. Before modern filter masks came, some alkali industry workmen had to work gagged all day to keep caustic dust out of their lungs.
Of gags that intrude into the mouth, the common scuba mouthpiece is an all too effective example, forcing scuba divers to develop a vocabulary of sign language. And see full face diving mask.
Gags are sometimes also used in the context of some consensual BDSM activities: for the use of gags in a BDSM context, see gag (BDSM).