gap it en · VERB
Etymology
In allusion to the gap that separated Salisbury (Harare) from the border crossing point with South Africa at Beitbridge.
Meanings
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(historical, slang) Of a white inhabitant of Rhodesia: to emigrate from the country during its transition to independence.
By 1979, thousands had 'gapped it', or taken the 'chicken run', as emigration was derisively known […]
2019, David Kenrick, Decolonisation, Identity and Nation in Rhodesia, 1964-1979, page 2:[…] but that he would out-think and out-manoeuvre whatever they could throw at us and if we had to gap it because the odds were insurmountable, who better to be with than Darrell.
2015, Hannes Wessels, A Handful of Hard Men: The SAS and the Battle for Rhodesia, page 265:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| gaps it | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| gapped it | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| gapped it | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| gapping it | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic |