GAPE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Gape

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/geɪp/ Listen

noun

Gape n.

The act of gaping; a yawn.

(Zool.) The width of the mouth when opened, as of birds, fishes, etc.

The gapes.

(a)

A fit of yawning.

(b)

A disease of young poultry and other birds, attended with much gaping. It is caused by a parasitic nematode worm (Syngamus trachealis), in the windpipe, which obstructs the breathing. See Gapeworm.

verb

Gape v. i. (past & past part. gaped; pres. part. gaping)

To open the mouth wide; as:

(a)

Expressing a desire for food; as, young birds gape.

(b)

Indicating sleepiness or indifference; to yawn. "She stretches, gapes, unglues her eyes, And asks if it be time to rise."

(c)

Showing unselfconsciousness in surprise, astonishment, expectation, etc. "With gaping wonderment had stared aghast."

(d)

Manifesting a desire to injure, devour, or overcome. "They have gaped upon me with their mouth."

To open or part widely; to exhibit a gap, fissure, or hiatus. "May that ground gape and swallow me alive!"

To long, wait eagerly, or cry aloud for something; with for, after, or at. "The hungry grave for her due tribute gapes."

Synonyms: To gaze; stare; yawn. See Gaze.

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Etymology of 'Gape'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Gape" Quotes from Famous Books

... men, one standing under the bow and one under the stern, their arms extended and their hands clutching the sides. The beach was forty yards away; the current was swift and as opaque as chocolate; they could not see what depths might gape before them; but they must do the distance without ...

— Overland • John William De Forest

... Let other hungry mortals gape on, And on the bones their stomach fill hard; But let All Souls men have their mallard. Oh, by the blood of King Edward, It ...

— England, Picturesque and Descriptive - A Reminiscence of Foreign Travel • Joel Cook

... we do no longer gape on the aristocracy admiringly, and write of them curiously, as if they were creatures in a Paradise? Is it that Thackeray has converted us? In part, surely, we are just as snobbish as ever, though the gods of our adoration totter to their fall, and "a hideous hum" from the ...

— Essays in Little • Andrew Lang

... comprehend. And why not? The mind of man is capable of anything—because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future. What was there after all? Joy, fear, sorrow, devotion, valour, rage—who can tell?—but truth—truth stripped of its cloak of time. Let the fool gape and shudder—the man knows, and can look on without a wink. But he must at least be as much of a man as these on the shore. He must meet that truth with his own true stuff—with his own inborn strength. Principles won't do. ...

— Heart of Darkness • Joseph Conrad

... his throat a huge blast, half roar, half howl. When Clare came to himself he knew, though he had never heard it before, that the fearful sound was the voice of the lion. He did not know that all it meant was, that his majesty had thought of his dinner. It was not indeed much more than an audible gape. He stood for a moment, not at all terrified, but half expecting to see a huge yellow animal burst out of one of the caravans—he could not guess which: the roar was much too loud to indicate one rather than another. He sat down again, but was not any longer inclined ...

— A Rough Shaking • George MacDonald

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