gape

Meanings

Verb

• To open the mouth wide, especially involuntarily, as in a yawn, anger, or surprise.
• To stare in wonder.
• To open wide; to display a gap.
• 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.

Noun

• An act of gaping; a yawn.
• A large opening.
• A disease in poultry caused by gapeworm in the windpipe, a symptom of which is frequent gaping.
• The width of an opening.
• The maximum opening of the mouth (of a bird, fish, etc.) when it is open.

Origin

• 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 *ǵʰеh₁b-. Cognates include Russian зяпа.