Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who gapes, as from sleepiness, drowsiness, or dullness, or in wonder, astonishment, longing desire, or expectation.
- n. In ornithology:
- n. One of the Eurylæmidœ; a broadbill: as, the blue-billed gaper, Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchus. See cut in next column.
- n. plural Fissirostral birds, as swallows and the like: a literal translation of Hiantes, one of the names of the old group Fissirostres.
- n. The Serranus cabrilla, a fish of the family Serranidæ. So called because the fish in its death-agony erects its fins and opens its mouth and thus stiffens, as is commonly seen in many of the spiny-rayed acanthopterygian fishes. Day. Also called
comber . - n. A gaping clam; a bivalve mollusk of the family Myidæ, as Mya truncata. It has a suboval shell, the valves of which gape or dispart and are truncated at the small end and swollen at the other. The surface is wrinkled concentrically and covered with a palegreenish epidermis, which is continued over the siphons. It is a common inhabitant of the North Atlantic coasts, and lives buried in the sand in an upright position, especially at the mouths of rivers and estuaries near low-water mark. At ebb-tide it shows its presence by a hole in the sand left when it withdraws its siphon, and it is found by digging to the depth of a foot or more. These clams are extensively used for the table and for bait. Along the eastern coast of the United States the gaper is commonly known as the soft clam, or in more northern ranges simply as the clam. (See cut under
Myidæ .) It has many synonyms in Great Britain: as, at Chichester, pullet; at Southampton, old-maid; at Belfast, cockle-brillion; at Dublin, collier; at Youghal, sugar-loon. On the Pacific coast of the United States the term gaper is applied to various similar bivalves, as species of Glycymer is, Saxidomus, and Schizothœrus.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One who gapes.
- n. A European fish. See 4th Comber.
- n. A large edible clam (Schizothærus Nuttalli), of the Pacific coast; -- called also
gaper clam . - n. An East Indian bird of the genus Cymbirhynchus, related to the broadbills.
Examples
“[V, 1], the word gaper-block (or gapers 'block) -- a traffic jam caused by drivers gaping at an accident -- has been used by policemen reporting on Chicago traffic conditions for at least five years.”
“The Elysium seas feature a large scavenger called a gaper, whose hinged jaw is easily capable of taking up a person in a single swallow.”
“The chemist's sign, a large comic head with its mouth wide open (known as the gaper), is also subversive of confidence.”
“Sure, it might not be a word according to Webster's Dictionary, but you'll find this definition of "gaper" in the Urban Dictionary: "A gaper is a skier or snowboarder who is completely clueless.”
“The idea is that your own mouth is so gape jawed at the sheer lack of skill a fisherman/skier is showing that they become the "gaper".”
“The 650-grain bullet hit the steel door two inches below the window frame, blowing a half-inch-size gaper and leaving a smear of burnt steel peeling away from the actual crater.”
“I, of course, am referring to that lecture you gave with a gaper.”
“The mudflats are often partially covered by mats of Vaucheria (a green alga), and typically harbor cockles (Clinocardium nuttalli), gaper (Tresus capax), bentnose, and littleneck (Protothaca staminea) clams.”
“Gaper: Someone who is uncoordinated: "That gaper hit me in the head with his skis.”
“Synonym: un gobe-mouche (literally "a swallows flies," or "fly swallower," from the image of a gaper standing with his/her mouth wide open -- a sure target for les mouches!)”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘gaper’.
skipvia A skier who stops to look at the scenery.
I'm a gaper... Nov 10, 2007