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Origin and history of gaping

gaping(adj.)

"standing wide open," 1570s (implied in gapingly), present-participle adjective from gape (v.).

also from 1570s

Entries linking to gaping

gape(v.)

early 13c., from an unrecorded Old English word or else from Old Norse gapa "to open the mouth wide, gape" (see gap (n.)). Related: Gaped; gaping.

To gape is in this connection to look with open mouth, and hence with the bumpkin's idle curiosity, listlessness, or ignorant wonder; one may gape at a single thing, or only gape about. [Century Dictionary]

As a noun, "act of opening the mouth," from 1530s.

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    Trends of gaping

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    agape
    c. 1600, from Greek agapē "brotherly love, charity," in Ecclesiastical use "the love of God for man and man for God," a late and mostly Christian formation from the verb agapan "greet with affection, receive with friendship; to like, love," which is of unknown origin. It sometime
    laughing-stock
    Also in the same sense was jesting-stock (1530s), and compare gaping-stock "person or thing regarded as an object of wonder...
    abash
    The second may be ba(y)er "to be open, gape" (if the notion is "gaping with astonishment"), possibly ultimately imitative...
    chaos
    late 14c., "gaping void; empty, immeasurable space," from Old French chaos (14c.) or directly from Latin chaos, from Greek...
    gawk
    "stare stupidly," 1785, American English, of uncertain origin. Perhaps [Watkins] from gaw, a survival from Middle English gowen "to stare" (c. 1200), from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse ga "to heed," from Proto-Germanic *gawon, from PIE *ghow-e- "to honor, revere, worshi
    yawn
    c. 1300, yenen, yonen, from Old English ginian, gionian "open the mouth wide, yawn, gape," from Proto-Germanic *gin- (source also of Old English giwian, giowian, giwan "to request," Old Norse gina "to yawn," Dutch geeuwen, Old High German ginen "to be wide open," German gähnen "t
    way
    Old English weg "road, path; course of travel; room, space, freedom of movement;" also, figuratively, "course of life" especially, in plural, "habits of life" as regards moral, ethical, or spiritual choices, from Proto-Germanic *wega- "course of travel, way" (source also of Old S
    breach
    Old English bryce "a fracture, act of breaking," from Proto-Germanic *brukiz (source also of Old Frisian breke "a burst, crack, demolition (of a house)," Old Saxon bruki, Old High German bruh, Middle Dutch broke), a noun from *brekanan (source of Old English  brecan "to shat
    look
    Old English locian "use the eyes for seeing, gaze, look, behold, spy," from West Germanic *lokjan (source also of Old Saxon lokon "see, look, spy," Middle Dutch loeken "to look," Old High German luogen, German dialectal lugen "to look out"), a word of unknown origin. Breton lagud
    page
    "sheet of paper, one side of a printed or written leaf of a book or pamphlet," 1580s, from French page, from Old French pagene "page, text" (12c.), from Latin pagina "page, leaf of paper, strip of papyrus fastened to others," related to pagella "small page," from pangere "to fast

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