gapes

American  

[geyps, gaps] / geɪps, gæps /

noun

(used with a singular verb)

1. Veterinary Pathology. a parasitic disease of poultry and other birds, characterized by frequent gaping due to infestation of the trachea and bronchi with gapeworms.

2. a fit of yawning.

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gapes British  

/ ɡeɪps /

noun

1. a disease of young domestic fowl, characterized by gaping or gasping for breath and caused by parasitic worms ( gapeworms )

2. informal a fit of yawning

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Other Word Forms

• gapy adjective

Etymology

Origin of gapes

gape, -s ³

Example Sentences

Step inside, and the cavernous lobby still gapes beneath the same mural of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the library’s namesake.

From Washington Post

These days, the gap gapes, and family harmony usually calls for some forbearance on both sides.

From New York Times

She looks ennobled, capable, mighty, but the interior of her home, behind her, gapes darkly, like an unfilled cavity.

From The New Yorker

Social inequality gapes, exacerbated by climate change, driving hostility towards immigrants and flares of militant racism.

From Nature

They have small eyes set wide above a mouth that gapes to an enormous size to pull in the water from which they filter small items such as fish eggs, plankton and krill.

From Washington Post