Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To open the mouth wide; yawn.
- v. To stare wonderingly or stupidly, often with the mouth open. See Synonyms at gaze.
- v. To open wide: The curtains gaped when the wind blew.
- n. The act or an instance of gaping.
- n. A large opening.
- n. Zoology The width of the space between the open jaws or mandibles of a vertebrate.
- n. A disease of birds, especially young domesticated chickens and turkeys, caused by gapeworms and resulting in obstructed breathing.
- n. A fit of yawning.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To open the mouth involuntarily or as the result of weariness, sleepiness, or absorbed attention; yawn.
- According to the inducing cause of the gaping, the verb, without losing its literal meaning, usually takes on an additional specific sense.
- To yawn from sleepiness, weariness, or dullness.
- To open the mouth for food, as young birds.
- Hence — To open the mouth in eager expectation; expect, await, or hope for, with the intent to receive or devour. See phrases below.
- To stand with open mouth in wonder, astonishment, or admiration; stand and gaze; stare. See phrases below, and gaping.
- To open as a gap, fissure, or chasm; split open; become fissured; show a fissure.
- To stand in eager expectation of; covet; desire; long for.
- To covet, desire; long for.
- Synonyms Gaze, etc. See stare.
- n. The act of gaping.
- n. A fit of yawning: commonly in the plural.
- n. In zoology:
- n. The width of the mouth when opened; the interval between the upper and under mandibles; the rictus, or commissural line. See first cut under bill.
- n. The gap or interval between the valves of a bivalve mollusk where the edges of the valves do not fit together when the shell is shut. See gaper, 4.
- n. plural A disease of young poultry, caused by the presence of a nematoid worm or strongyle (Syngamus trachealis) in the windpipe, attended by frequent gaping as a symptom.
Wiktionary
- v. intransitive To open the mouth wide, especially involuntarily, as in a yawn, anger, or surprise.
- v. intransitive To stare in wonder.
- v. intransitive To open wide; to display a gap.
- n. uncommon An act of gaping; a yawn.
- n. A large opening.
- n. A disease in poultry caused by gapeworm in the windpipe, a symptom of which is frequent gaping.
- n. zoology The width of the mouth (of a bird, fish, etc.) when it is open.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To open the mouth wide.
- v. Expressing a desire for food.
- v. Indicating sleepiness or indifference; to yawn.
- v. Showing unselfconsciousness in surprise, astonishment, expectation, etc.
- v. Manifesting a desire to injure, devour, or overcome.
- v. To open or part widely; to exhibit a gap, fissure, or hiatus.
- v. To long, wait eagerly, or cry aloud for something; -- with
for ,after , orat . - n. The act of gaping; a yawn.
- n. (Zoöl.) The width of the mouth when opened, as of birds, fishes, etc.
WordNet 3.0
- v. look with amazement; look stupidly
- v. be wide open
- n. a stare of amazement (usually with the mouth open)
- n. an expression of openmouthed astonishment
Etymologies
- From Middle English gapen, from Old Norse gapa ("to gape") (compare Swedish gapa, Danish gabe), from Proto-Germanic *gapōnan (descendants Middle English geapen, Dutch gapen, German gaffen), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ghēp-. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English gapen, from Old Norse gapa. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“- hanya mudah di kalangan user yang sudah 'gape' dengan aplikasi tersebut”
“Gadhafi shooed away cars filled with residents who stopped Tuesday to gape at the destruction caused by the bombs.”
“Even the most seasoned pol has to gape in stunned disbelief that John McCain, the one-time presidential candidate, is willing to give credence to made-up claims about "death panels.”
“There is a sports centre to make the Olympians gape, two "royal" villas for the obscenely rich, immense meeting halls and plazas, six restaurants, two golf courses and, literally, dozens of swimming pools because if you pay enough you get your own.”
“They freeze and all turn to gape me at the same time.”
Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » Thablue’s Review Forum
“Hope continued to gape at him with a mix of confusion and alarm.”
“He disliked the greedy gape of the stairs and turned away as he passed it.”
“Starve him, let him miss six meals, and see gape through the veneer the hungry maw of the animal beneath.”
“That morning, even the geniuses who loved to sleep in rolled out of their beds to gape at the procession.”
“I sensed a few people turning heads to gape at each other.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘gape’.
-
GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
-
LIT - Ulysses - key words and phrases
money cowrie, bedraggle, omphalos, ineluctable, postprandial, bladderwrack, modality barnacle..., loofah, shipworm, cither, embattle, Malachi and 503 more...
-
SMILE and other emotive verbs
Single verbs that describe expression or emotional reaction. "He __ed" (smiled/gulped/scoffed...)
smile, beam, sneer, scoff, giggle, laugh, snigger, scowl, grin, leer, wince, grimace and 97 more...
-
EN - eloquence in public speaking
Key words from "The Training of a Public Speaker" by Grenville Kleiser (New York and London, 1920)
beget, imago, Vespasian, languid, studied, judgment, dwindle, artifice, contribute, observe, sonorous, gladiator and 264 more...
-
I am : looking
To describe facial expressions when attending to something.
look, peer, glance, stare, glare, glower, ogle, peek, observe, scrutinize, gaze, gape and 18 more...
-
Words from books I've read
These are some words I didn't know when I read and now I want to know!
mortgage, fiddling, rage, kick, stroke, dodge, hunch, scratch, covetous, rank, trickle, budget and 179 more...
-
wakcy's Words
apocalypse, interlude, drome, absolution, atrocity, ruse, pristine, mason, reparable, deteriorate, pyramid, hipster and 283 more...
-
ChortleGiggleSnort
Significant Words- Guiding you on your path to Snazzibility
flimsy, feeble, ranting, ramble, narky, snazzy, yoghurt, bulbous, pustule, globulous, geranium, megalomaniac and 521 more...
-
generationnext's Words
petulant, vehement, pensive, lascivious, vacillate, histrionic, satiated, svelte, lithe, zeitgeist, viscous, sommelier and 526 more...
-
summerwing's Words
proctosigmoidoscopy, horrendous, cichlid, implode, nostalgic, firmament, elucidate, quintet, rhombus, mack, pithy, rambunctious and 304 more...
-
Is it morning yet?
coterie, lexeme, counterbalance, forthright, pigtail, ponytail, french-braid, barrette, listless, counsel, sitting duck, dead duck and 268 more...
-
eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
-
The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
-
Wordwild's Delights
Delightful words to read and use
plangent, ribald, titubant, sidereal, pelagic, improvident, dolorous, parlous, baleful, precatory, pied, mephitic and 247 more...
-
My List
A list of words that I have generated over time.
cairn, cacodaemoniacal, abash, abject, abjure, abstemious, abhor, abnegate, abnegation, abscond, abstruse, acclivity and 702 more...
-
stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for gape.

Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.