gape

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English gapen, also geapen,^[2][3] borrowed from Old Norse gapa (“to open the mouth, gape”),^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]} which survives in Swedish gapa and Danish gabe.^[9][7] Barnhart calls the Scandinavian source probable,^[3] and Etymonline allows for an unrecorded Old English word instead.^[10] The OED notes that an Old English *gapian may have existed, since the early form geapede may be Mercian, but is not recorded;^[4] the compound ofergapian (“to neglect”) points the same way.^[3][8] The verb is cognate with Middle Dutch gapen, Dutch gapen, Middle Low German gapen, Middle High German gaffen and German gaffen (“to gape, stare”).^[4][3] Merriam-Webster also compares Old High German geffida (“observation”) and Latin hiō (“to gape, yawn”).^[6] Klein and Barnhart call the ultimate origin unknown,^[7][3] and the OED calls the further relations uncertain, mentioning a comparison with verbs for yawning in Sanskrit and Avestan.^[4] The noun comes from the verb.^[4][3][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To open the mouth wide, especially to bite or swallow something: about 1220, in the Bestiary.^[4] The Middle English Dictionary has the form geapede in a life of Saint Margaret of about 1225.^[2] Barnhart dates gapen to before 1250 and geapen to probably about 1200.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From about 1290 one could gape on or upon something, staring at it open-mouthed in curiosity or wonder,^[4] and the Century Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, linked this to a bumpkin's idle curiosity.^[10] From about 1340 gape after or for meant to long for something eagerly,^[4] and the Mapping Metaphor project dates the link between body parts and expectation to the later 14th century.^[12] Chaucer used the verb for opening the mouth, staring fixedly and desiring greedily,^[13] although in three passages some of the best manuscripts have cape, probably a different word from Low German.^[4] The sense "to split open, as a mouth does", is recorded of earth and hell from about 1480 and of material objects from 1577.^[4] Johnson (1755) derived the verb from a Saxon geapan and began his senses with "to open the mouth wide; to yawn".^[14] The noun followed in the 16th century, and the name the gapes for a disease of poultry, whose symptom is frequent gaping, in 1799.^[4] English dialects had combinations such as gape-seed, something to stare at, and in Yorkshire a separate gape meant to shout or bawl.^[15] In American drug slang, recorded from 1953, gape means to go through withdrawal, from the yawning typical of it.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1220 – to open the mouth wide.^[4]
• c. 1290 – to stare at with open mouth.^[4]
• c. 1340 – to long for something.^[4]
• 1352 – to gasp from pain or heat (obsolete by 1600).^[4][17]
• c. 1480 – of earth or hell, to open wide.^[4]
• 1535 – noun, an act of opening the mouth; a yawn.^[6][3]
• 1577 – of material objects or wounds, to split, part asunder.^[4]
• 1658 – noun, a rent or opening of any kind.^[4]
• 1660 – noun, an open-mouthed stare.^[4]
• 1766 – noun, the expanse of an open mouth or beak.^[4]
• 1799 – the gapes, a disease of poultry.^[4]
• 1953 – drug slang, to go through withdrawal.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stare in wonder or amazement, often with the mouth open: The tourists gaped at the huge waterfall.^[18][6][5]
2. To open the mouth wide, as in yawning or hunger.^[18][5][6]
3. To be or become wide open; to split apart: A hole gaped in the fence.^[18][5][6]
4. With after or for, to long for something.^[4][13]
5. (US drug slang) To go through withdrawal.^[16]

Noun

1. An open-mouthed stare.^[18][6][4]
2. An act of opening the mouth; a yawn.^[6][4]
3. A wide opening or breach.^[18][5][4]
4. The width of the opened mouth of an animal, or the line along which a bird's mandibles close.^[18][6][4]
5. the gapes: a disease of poultry marked by frequent gaping; humorously, a fit of yawning.^[4][15]

Word family

• gapingly
• agape

Related words

• gap
• yawn

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Mapping Metaphor with the Historical Thesaurus, University of Glasgow, mappingmetaphor.arts.gla.ac.uk
13. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
17. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
18. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins