GAPE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does gape mean? 

• GAPE (noun)
  The noun GAPE has 2 senses:

1. an expression of openmouthed astonishment

2. a stare of amazement (usually with the mouth open)

  Familiarity information: GAPE used as a noun is rare.

• GAPE (verb)
  The verb GAPE has 2 senses:

1. look with amazement; look stupidly

2. be wide open

  Familiarity information: GAPE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GAPE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An expression of openmouthed astonishment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("gape" is a kind of...):

facial expression; facial gesture (a gesture executed with the facial muscles)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gape"):

rictus (a gaping grimace)

Derivation:

gape (look with amazement; look stupidly)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A stare of amazement (usually with the mouth open)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("gape" is a kind of...):

stare (a fixed look with eyes open wide)

Derivation:

gape (look with amazement; look stupidly)

• GAPE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they gape    ... he / she / it gapes   
Past simple: gaped   
Past participle: gaped   
-ing form: gaping   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Look with amazement; look stupidly

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

gape; gawk; gawp; goggle

Hypernyms (to "gape" is one way to...):

look (perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

gape (a stare of amazement (usually with the mouth open))

gape (an expression of openmouthed astonishment)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be wide open

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

gape; yaw; yawn

Context example:

the deep gaping canyon

Hypernyms (to "gape" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

 Context examples 

It's a dreadful thing to gape, but I must do something.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I mused on the funeral day, the coffin, the hearse, the black train of tenants and servants—few was the number of relatives—the gaping vault, the silent church, the solemn service.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

With a rending, tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed the light of a lantern.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Why do you stand gaping there?” cried the dwarf, and his ashen-grey face became copper-red with rage.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

“Dat Spitz fight lak hell,” said Perrault, as he surveyed the gaping rips and cuts.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

All that may be done is already carried out, for we have stuffed the gape with sails and corded it without and within.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A gaping throat explained the manner of his death.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Lord! we shall sit and gape at one another as dull as two cats."

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

It is like a broad red church spire, the top of it being level with the plateau, but a great chasm gaping between.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The obligation of attendance, the formality, the restraint, the length of time—altogether it is a formidable thing, and what nobody likes; and if the good people who used to kneel and gape in that gallery could have foreseen that the time would ever come when men and women might lie another ten minutes in bed, when they woke with a headache, without danger of reprobation, because chapel was missed, they would have jumped with joy and envy.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)