/gape/

 

/gape/

 

Verb.

 

-) Pronunciation: geɪp. 

 

-) Etymology: from Middle English gapen.

 

-) Preterite tense: gaped. Preterite participle: gaped.

 

-) Present participle: gaping.

 

-) It is dated from the beginning of 1200.

 

Intransitively: 1. a. To open the mouth wide, especially with intent to bite or swallow anything. b. To open involuntarily the mouth wide as a reaction to fatigue or boredom, etc.; to yawn.

 

-) Translation: ouvrir la bouche, in French; abrir la boca, in Spanish; aprire la bocca, in Italian.

[The hound] snuffed the air a moment, gaped heavily, shook himself, and peaceably resumed his recumbent attitude.

James Cooper… The Prairie 1827

And that lion gaped wide and came upon him ramping to have slain him.

Thomas Malory… Le Morte Darthur 1868

As the reader is aware, it is an excellent story, and has but one drawback—that it is not true; and so, as these three simple shipmen now heard it for the first time, their eyes stood out of their faces, and their mouths gaped like codfish at a fishmonger’s.

Robert Stevenson… The Black Arrow 1888

The candle flickered slightly. I tried to scream, but my mouth gaped to a soundless yammering. I tried to flee, but I stood frozen, unable even to close my eyes.

Robert Howard… Dig Me No Grave 1937

2. Metaphor: (of an object similar to a mouth, as a wound, etc.) to open, to split, part asunder. 

His hairy old breast showed through the night-shirt, which gaped apart.

William Howells… The March Family Trilogy

I doubt if our enemy had named Mr. Alexander three times before I perceived which way his mind was aiming […] and you may say I started back as though an open hole had gaped across a pathway.

Robert Stevenson… The Master of Ballantrae 1888

[…] she laid for ten minutes at a time with her legs in the air so distended that her cunt gaped wide.

Walter… My Secret Life 1888

3. Metaphor: to stare with open mouth in curiosity or surprise or admiration, etc.

 

-) Synonyms for “gape”: to gaze, stare.

 

-) Syntax: with the preposition at (rarely on or upon) + a noun:

 

He no sooner entered the grand apartment in which I was, and saw the magnificence of my apparel, than his speech was lost in amazement, and he gaped in silence at the objects that surrounded him.

Tobias Smollett… The Adventures… 1748

I have walked over this city twenty times, and gaped at every shop, like a countryman, to find something, but could not.

Familiar Letters of John Adams 1776

We were followed and gaped at by the people.

Frederick Marryat… Frank Mildmay 1829

4. Metaphorical and archaic: a. To yearn for something; ―with the preposition after, or for (rarely at, upon). b. To desire eagerly to do something; ―used with an infinitive.

 

[…] the people, just rousing to the occupations of the day, gaped to see their king returning with a small retinue, and were in doubt as to whether it portended victory or defeat.

Robert Howard… The Scarlet Citadel 1933

-) English words derived from the verb GAPE: gape (noun), gaper, gaping, gapingly.