Definitions

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

  • noun See as the gapes, under gape, n..

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

  • verb Third-person singular simple present indicative form of gape.
  • noun A fit of yawning.
  • noun A disease of young poultry and other birds, caused by a parasitic nematode worm in the windpipe.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • It begins with what is called the gapes; that is, the fowl, being unable to breathe through its nostrils, keeps its beak open, with a kind of convulsive yawn; the eyelids then become swelled and close, and there is an offensive discharge from the nostrils.

    The Lady's Country Companion: or, How to Enjoy a Country Life Rationally Jane 1845

  • The worst disease, however, from which the pheasant suffers is "gapes," caused by an accumulation of small red worms in the windpipe that all but suffocate the victim.

    Birds in the Calendar 1894

  • We start a three-way makeout as the entire crowd gapes at us, in shock.

    Get Laid or Die Trying Jeff Allen 2011

  • I watch Chazz watch Lavie, and his mouth slowly gapes.

    Erik Proulx: The Tale of Two Detroits Erik Proulx 2011

  • When I say the word biologic to someone like Josephine, her eyes cross a little, and her mouth gapes, and I can hear her little brain rattling around in her skull like a smooth marble.

    Deadly Julie Chibbaro 2011

  • When I say the word biologic to someone like Josephine, her eyes cross a little, and her mouth gapes, and I can hear her little brain rattling around in her skull like a smooth marble.

    Deadly Julie Chibbaro 2011

  • I watch Chazz watch Lavie, and his mouth slowly gapes.

    Erik Proulx: The Tale of Two Detroits Erik Proulx 2011

  • I watch Chazz watch Lavie, and his mouth slowly gapes.

    Erik Proulx: The Tale of Two Detroits Erik Proulx 2011

  • The eyeless, toothless brick building behind me gapes with awe at what it's become, at all who flagrantly disregard it.

    Coffee-Stained Fangs (excerpt) Chris Miller 2011

  • When I say the word biologic to someone like Josephine, her eyes cross a little, and her mouth gapes, and I can hear her little brain rattling around in her skull like a smooth marble.

    Deadly Julie Chibbaro 2011

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