Definition of "gape" in Anglais

verb

1. (intransitive) To open the mouth wide, especially involuntarily, as in a yawn, anger, or surprise.

   • 1723, Jonathan Swift, The Journal of a Modern Lady, 1810, Samuel Johnson, The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper, Volume 11, page 467, She stretches, gapes, unglues her eyes, / And asks if it be time to rise;

2. (intransitive) To stare in wonder.

3. (intransitive) To open wide; to display a gap.

   • The wound was gaping open and losing too much blood.

4. (intransitive, of a cat) To open the passage to the vomeronasal organ, analogous to the flehming in other animals.

5. (pornography) To depict a dilated anal or vaginal cavity upon penetrative sexual activity.

noun

1. (uncommon) An act of gaping; a yawn.

2. A large opening.

3. (uncountable) A disease in poultry caused by gapeworm in the windpipe, a symptom of which is frequent gaping.

4. The width of an opening.

5. (zoology) The maximum opening of the mouth (of a bird, fish, etc.) when it is open.