1. Word finder
  2. Word definitions
  3. the gapes

Find the word definition

What is "the gapes"

The Collaborative International Dictionary
The gapes

Gape \Gape\, n.

  1. The act of gaping; a yawn.
    --Addison.

  2. (Zo["o]l.) The width of the mouth when opened, as of birds, fishes, etc. The gapes.

    1. A fit of yawning.

    2. A disease of young poultry and other birds, attended with much gaping. It is caused by a parasitic nematode worm ( Syngamus trachealis), in the windpipe, which obstructs the breathing. See Gapeworm.

Usage examples of "the gapes".

And a chill wind swirled through the gapes and among the ruins beyond.

Belisarius restrained a laugh, seeing the gapes of his Thracian soldiers and the glum resignation on the faces of Ethiopian sarwen.

If a very small piece is chopped fine and put into chicken's food daily, it is a sure preventative of the gapes.