gape

Pronunciation: /ˈɡeɪp/

The English word “gape” has 10 meanings listed here.

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.

Etymology

From 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 *ǵʰеh₂b-. Cognates include Russian зяпа (zjapa). Doublet of gap.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.