- present tense form of gape (3rd person singular).
gapes
Americannoun
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Veterinary Pathology. a parasitic disease of poultry and other birds, characterized by frequent gaping due to infestation of the trachea and bronchi with gapeworms.
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a fit of yawning.
noun
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a disease of young domestic fowl, characterized by gaping or gasping for breath and caused by parasitic worms ( gapeworms )
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informal a fit of yawning
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of gapes
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The crater gapes at about 13 miles wide and 2.6 miles deep.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 21, 2023
The line of the river now gapes like an open wound, perhaps a hundred metres across in places.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2023
When pipes experience a catastrophic failure, the breach typically is much bigger, what’s referred to in the industry as a "fish mouth" rupture because it gapes wide like the mouth of a fish, he said.
From Fox News ● Oct. 8, 2021
Mr. Bourgeois’s trim white beard dips and rises as his jaw begins to work, and then his mouth gapes once, a wide, ghastly gulp for air.
From New York Times ● Dec. 17, 2020
He gapes at the fires surrounding the reservoir, surprised they’ve grown this far.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
