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gape (gāp, găp)
Share:
intr.v. gaped, gap·ing, gapes
1. To open the mouth wide.
2. To stare wonderingly or stupidly, often with the mouth open. See Synonyms at gaze.
3. To be or become open or wide: Holes gaped in the ceiling.
n.
1. The act or an instance of gaping: a scoring move that elicited gapes from her teammates.
2. A large opening: a gape in the sail.
3.
a. The mouth, especially when open.
b. Zoology The width of the space between the open jaws or mandibles of a vertebrate.
4. gapes (used with a sing. verb) A disease of birds, especially young domesticated chickens and turkeys, caused by gapeworms and resulting in obstructed breathing.
5. gapes A fit of yawning.

[Middle English gapen, from Old Norse gapa.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.