marsh gas
1
3.4
- noun
- /mɑrʃ ɡæs/
- Specialized
:
gas de pantano
- He jumped as water erupted close to his elbow, but it was no more than a bubble of marsh gas, foul-smelling but harmless.
Examples
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The farmer noticed a pungent odor near the swamp, indicating the presence of marsh gas.
-
But you said it was marsh gas.
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Perhaps it's just marsh gas.
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They fill with marsh gas.
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They fill with marsh gas, and they can come shooting out of there like a rocket.
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The sickly smell crept like marsh gas over the flowerpots, through the lavender bushes.
Fiction book (1995) -
Sometimes at night, greasy-scented yellow light flickered through the lattices of their buildings, inconstant as foxfire, the glow of marsh gas at night.
Fiction book (2001) -
The workers warned us not to disturb the area because it was filled with marsh gas.
-
As the decomposition of organic material occurred, marsh gas began to escape from the wetland.
Synonyms
86
3.4
A gas with no color or smell that burns easily and is used as a fuel
3
5.8
A gas that forms when plants rot in wet places like marshes
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'marsh' indicates the wetland source and 'gas' indicates a gaseous substance, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a gas associated with marshes (i.e., methane). This is a literal, non-idiomatic compound found across languages, so prior exposure is not required for basic understanding.
Etymology
Marsh gas is named for the simple picture of bubbles of gas rising from a wet marsh where dead plants rot. This gas is called 'methane' and can burn, so marsh gas means the gas made in marshes and wetlands.