From Middle English gapen, from Old Norse gapa (“to gape”) (compare Swedish gapa, Danish gabe), from Proto-Germanic *gapōną (descendants Middle English geapen, Dutch gapen, German gaffen), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰеh₂b-. Cognates include Russian зяпа (zjapa). Doublet of gap.
Meanings
(countable, uncommon, uncountable) An act of gaping; a yawn.
Now a gen'ral gape goes round,
And vapours cloud each sleepy head. 1745, Richard Graves, Euphrosyne:
(countable, uncountable) A large opening.
(uncountable) A disease in poultry caused by gapeworm in the windpipe, a symptom of which is frequent gaping.
(countable, uncountable) The width of an opening.
(countable, uncountable) The maximum opening of the mouth (of a bird, fish, etc.) when it is open.
From Middle English gapen, from Old Norse gapa (“to gape”) (compare Swedish gapa, Danish gabe), from Proto-Germanic *gapōną (descendants Middle English geapen, Dutch gapen, German gaffen), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰеh₂b-. Cognates include Russian зяпа (zjapa). Doublet of gap.
Meanings
(intransitive) To open the mouth wide, especially involuntarily, as in a yawn, anger, or surprise.
1723, Jonathan Swift, The Journal of a Modern Lady, 1810, Samuel Johnson, The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper, Volume 11, page 467,
She stretches, gapes, unglues her eyes, / And asks if it be time to rise;
Eustace gaped at him in amazement. When his urbanity dropped away from him, as now, he had an innocence of expression which was almost infantile. It was as if the world had never touched him at all. 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter IX, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
(intransitive) To stare in wonder.
The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world. They can sit at their ease and gape at the play. 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter I, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC, page 5:
Home I vvould go, / But that my Dores are hatefull to my eyes. / Fill'd and damm'd up vvith gaping Creditors, / VVatchfull as Fovvlers vvhen their Game vvill ſpring; […] 1682, Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv’d, or, A Plot Discover’d. A Tragedy. […], London: […] Jos[eph] Hindmarsh […], →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 4:
Brother Francine demands stronger rules, damns the needs of the body, and then sneaks off to a public pool to gape obscenely at the casually exposed flesh. 1982 February 13, Michael Bronski, “Boys from Catholic School”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 29, page 7:
(intransitive) To open wide; to display a gap.
The wound was gaping open and losing too much blood.
Nor is he deterr'd from the belief of the perpetual flying of the Manucodiata, by the gaping of the feathers of her wings, (which seem thereby less fit to sustain her body) but further makes the narration probable by what he has observed in Kites hovering in the Aire, as he saith, for a whole hour together without any flapping of their wings or changing place. 1653, Henry More, An Antidote against Atheisme, or An Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Minde of Man, whether There Be Not a God, London: […] Roger Daniel, […], →OCLC:
May that ground gape, and swallow me alive, / Where I shall kneel to him who slew my father! c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
The hungry grave for her due tribute gapes: a. 1699, John Denham, Cato Major, Of Old Age: A Poem, published 1710, page 25:
(intransitive, of a cat) To open the passage to the vomeronasal organ, analogous to the flehming in other animals.
To depict a dilated anal or vaginal cavity upon penetrative sexual activity.
Forms
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gapes
Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres
lexicographic
gaping
Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part
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gaped
Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part
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gaped
Tense=Past
lexicographic
Translations (59)
nl gapen (to open the mouth wide) · ka პირის დაღება (to stare in wonderment) · ka პირის დაღება (to open the mouth wide) · sv gapa (to open the mouth wide) · fa فاژیدن (to open the mouth wide) · da gabe (to open the mouth wide) · de klaffen (to open wide) · txb kāy- (to open the mouth wide) · nn gapa (to open the mouth wide) · ka მიშტერება (to stare in wonderment) · sh зја́пити (to open the mouth wide) · es abrirse (to open wide) · hu tát (to open the mouth wide) · ota اسنمك (to open the mouth wide) · ka მიჩერება (to stare in wonderment) · es boquear (to open the mouth wide) · hu tátog (to open the mouth wide) · fr béer (to open the mouth wide) · cmn 張嘴 /张嘴 (to open the mouth wide) · sv gapa (to open wide) · bg зяпам (to stare in wonderment) · fr béer (to open wide) · fi ammottaa (to open wide) · yi גאַפֿן (to stare in wonderment) · ka პირის დაფჩენა (to stare in wonderment) · it spalancare (to open the mouth wide) · fi toljottaa (to stare in wonderment) · hu kitát (to open the mouth wide) · de gähnen (to open the mouth wide) · cs zírat (to stare in wonderment) · pl rozdziawiać (to open the mouth wide) · ka მთქნარება (to open wide) · ru глазе́ть (to stare in wonderment) · mi piere (to open the mouth wide) · cs koukat (to stare in wonderment) · sw achama (to open the mouth wide) · ru зия́ть (to open wide) · ru рази́нуть рот (to open the mouth wide) · fr bayer (to open the mouth wide) · pt escancarar (to open wide) · ka პირის დაფჩენა (to open the mouth wide) · mi titiro māhoi (to stare in wonderment) · fi avata ammolleen (to open the mouth wide) · ka დამთქნარება (to open wide) · ru разева́ть рот (to open the mouth wide) · ms nganga (to open the mouth wide) · mi kotā (to open wide) · ru пя́литься (to stare in wonderment) · mi putē (to stare in wonderment) · bg зея (to open wide) · ru тара́щиться (to stare in wonderment) · bg зея (to open the mouth wide) · eo gapi (to stare in wonderment) · sv gapa (to stare in wonderment) · sh zjápiti (to open the mouth wide) · bg прозявам се (to open the mouth wide) · eo faŭki (to open the mouth wide) · cs zívat (to open the mouth wide) · lt žiopsoti (to open the mouth wide)