What is a 'gift' or gifting in the context of the absolute priority rule?

Gifting is when a senior class voluntarily allocates some of its recovery to a junior class (often equity or junior creditors) to grease a deal, even though strict APR would give the juniors nothing. It's used to buy peace, secure votes, or keep management/sponsors engaged. It's permissible by consent of the senior class, but courts scrutinize it — gifting that skips an intervening dissenting class can run afoul of APR (per cases like DBSD / In re Armstrong concerns over skipping classes).