Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An opening in a solid structure or surface; a cleft or breach.
  • noun A break in a line of defense.
  • noun An opening through mountains; a pass.
  • noun A space between objects or points; an aperture.
  • noun An interruption of continuity.
  • noun A conspicuous difference or imbalance; a disparity.
  • noun A problematic situation resulting from such a disparity.
  • noun A spark gap.
  • intransitive verb To make an opening or openings in.
  • intransitive verb To make or adjust a space between (objects or points) or in (a device).
  • intransitive verb To be or become open.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To notch or jag; cut into teeth like those of a saw.
  • To make a break or opening in, as a fence, a wall, or any mass of matter.
  • To cause a hiatus of any kind in; cause to lose consecutiveness or continuity.
  • noun A break or opening, as in a fence, a wall, or the like; a breach; a chasm; a way of passage, as between rocks or through a mountain; a vacant space.
  • noun Specifically A deep sloping ravine, notch, or cleft cutting a mountain-ridge.
  • noun In general, any hiatus, breach, or interruption of consecutiveness or continuity: as, a gap in an argument.
  • noun See the extract, and break-lathe.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To notch, as a sword or knife.
  • transitive verb To make an opening in; to breach.
  • noun An opening in anything made by breaking or parting; ; an opening for a passage or entrance; an opening which implies a breach or defect; a vacant space or time; a hiatus; a mountain pass.
  • noun (Aëronautics) The vertical distance between two superposed surfaces, esp. in a biplane.
  • noun (Mach.) a turning lathe with a deep notch in the bed to admit of turning a short object of large diameter.
  • noun to expose one's self for the protection of something; to make defense against any assailing danger; to take the place of a fallen defender or supporter.
  • noun to secure a weak point; to repair a defect.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An opening in anything made by breaking or parting.
  • noun An opening allowing passage or entrance.
  • noun An opening that implies a breach or defect.
  • noun A vacant space or time.
  • noun A hiatus.
  • noun A mountain or hill pass.
  • noun Sussex A sheltered area of coast between two cliffs (mostly restricted to place names).
  • noun baseball The regions between the outfielders.
  • noun Australia The shortfall between the amount the medical insurer will pay to the service provider and the scheduled fee for the item.
  • verb transitive To notch, as a sword or knife.
  • verb transitive To make an opening in; to breach.
  • verb To check the size of a gap.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a difference (especially an unfortunate difference) between two opinions or two views or two situations
  • noun an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity
  • noun a pass between mountain peaks
  • noun a narrow opening
  • verb make an opening or gap in
  • noun an open or empty space in or between things
  • noun a conspicuous disparity or difference as between two figures

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old Norse, chasm.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old Norse gap ("chasm"), related to Old Norse gapa ("to gape"); compare gape.

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