gap

• enPR: gap, IPA^(key): /ɡæp/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -æp

From Middle English gap, gappe, from Old Norse gap (“an empty space, gap, chasm”), from gapa (“to gape, scream”), from Proto-Germanic *gapōną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂- (“to open wide, gape”). Related to Danish gab (“an expanse, space, gap”), Old English ġeap (“open space, expanse”); compare English gape.

gap (plural gaps)

1. An opening in anything made by breaking or parting.

   He made a gap in the fence by kicking at a weak spot.

2. An opening allowing passage or entrance.

   We can slip through that gap between the buildings.

3. An opening that implies a breach or defect.

   There is a gap between the roof and the gutter.

4. A vacant space or time.

   I have a gap in my schedule next Tuesday.

5. A hiatus, a pause in something which is otherwise continuous.

   I'm taking a gap.

   You must wait for a gap in the traffic before crossing the road.

6. A vacancy, deficit, absence, or lack.

   Their departure has left a gap in the workforce.

   Find words to fill the gaps in an incomplete sentence.

   She has a gap in her teeth.

   (see also gap-toothed)

   • 2013 August 3, “The machine of a new soul”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:

     The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure. Yet this is the level of organisation that does the actual thinking—and is, presumably, the seat of consciousness.

7. A mountain or hill pass.

   The exploring party went through the high gap in the mountains.

8. (Sussex) A sheltered area of coast between two cliffs (mostly restricted to place names).

   At Birling Gap we can stop and go have a picnic on the beach.

9. (baseball) The regions between the outfielders.

   Jones doubled through the gap.

10. (Australia, for a medical or pharmacy item) The shortfall between the amount the medical insurer will pay to the service provider and the scheduled fee for the item.
    • 2008, Eileen Willis, Louise Reynolds, Helen Keleher, Understanding the Australian Health Care System, page 5:

      Under bulk billing the patient does not pay a gap, and the medical practitioner receives 85% of the scheduled fee.

11. (Australia, usually written as "the gap") The disparity between the indigenous and non-indigenous communities with regard to life expectancy, education, health, etc.
12. (genetics) An unsequenced region in a sequence alignment.
13. (slang, euphemistic) The vagina.

    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:vagina

• (opening made by breaking or parting): break, hole, rip, split, tear, rift, chasm, fissure
• (opening allowing passage or entrance): break, clearing, hole, opening; see also Thesaurus:hole
• (opening that implies a breach or defect): space
• (vacant space or time): break, space, window; see also Thesaurus:interspace or Thesaurus:interim
• (hiatus): hiatus; see also Thesaurus:pause
• (mountain pass): col, neck, pass

gap (third-person singular simple present gaps, present participle gapping, simple past and past participle gapped)

1. (transitive) To notch, as a sword or knife.
2. (transitive) To make an opening in; to breach.
3. (transitive) To check the size of a gap.

   I gapped all the spark plugs in my car, but then realized I had used the wrong manual and had made them too small.

5. (transitive, intransitive, slang, especially video games, motor racing) To surpass (someone or something) by a considerable margin.
   • 2022 May 4, u/jhawk1117, “Two units that were really ahead of their time”, in Reddit‎^[1], r/DBZDokkanBattle, archived from the original on 18 July 2024:

     Honestly K&C could release today with like a bit more SOT buffs and they'd probably still gap a lot of the game

   • 2023 May 23, @slime_machine, Twitter‎^[2], archived from the original on 18 July 2024:

     sometimes dril gets absolutely gapped by average ukraine war reddit comments

   • 2023 December 19, @kommanderkarl, Twitter‎^[3], archived from the original on 18 July 2024:

     Imagine street racing someone then suddenly both of you get gapped by a slammed tiger tank 😂 AKA der "Drippenwagen"

   • 2024 March 9, u/djpain20, “T1 vs. Gen.G / LCK 2024 Spring - Week 7 / Post-Match Discussion”, in Reddit‎^[4], r/leagueoflegends, archived from the original on 18 July 2024:

     "Not really the reason his team lost" is still not showing up by Chovy's standarts. Like in a way you're downplaying how good this guy has been domestically the last 3-4 years. He is comfortably the best player in the league and is utterly gapping every other midlaner in the league series after series, year after year.

   • 2024 May 14, u/DM-Me-Your_Titties, “Kia reveals mid-life update to EV6.”, in Reddit‎^[5], r/cars, archived from the original on 18 July 2024:

     My sports car gets gapped by families of 5 in these all the time and they don't even know we're racing

   • 2024 July 6, @Rubiflorid, Twitter‎^[6], archived from the original on 18 July 2024:

     When you avoid getting buffed next patch due to your players gapping

6. (New Zealand, slang) To leave suddenly.
   • 2020 June 17, “'They've just gapped it': Duo fled quarantine authorities after gang funeral”, in Newstalk ZB‎^[7], archived from the original on 2022-10-13:

     [Article title:] 'They've just gapped it': Duo fled quarantine authorities after gang funeral

7. (intransitive) To fall or spill open so as to leave a gap.
   • 2014, Jeanne Stein, Blood Drive:

     The robe gaps open at the waist, breasts spilling out of a lacy bra that looks like she might have had it since her college days.

gap (plural gaps)

1. Alternative form of gup (elected head of a gewog in Bhutan)

A variant of gape.^[1]

gap (third-person singular simple present gaps, present participle gapping, simple past and past participle gapped)

1. (intransitive, transitive, US, slang, dated) To stare or gape.
   • 1904, Chuck Connors, Bowery Life, New York, N.Y.: Richard K. Fox Publishing Company, unnumbered page:

     Well, dey would all begin stretchin' and gappin', and den some of dem would say, with a gap and another stretch: […]

• “gap n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present

• AGP, APG, GPA, PAG, PGA, Pag

• Audio:

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• Rhymes: -ɑp

gap

1. inflection of gappen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

Borrowed from English gap. Related to gapen, gaap, jaap.

gap n (plural gappen, diminutive gapje n)

1. (business) gap

   Synonyms: gat, kloof

• IPA^(key): /ɡap/

• Audio:

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gap m (plural gaps)

1. (chemistry) gap
2. gap (difference)

gap

1. snail

Deverbal from gapa (“to open one's mouth wide; to yawn”).

• IPA^(key): /kaːp/
• Rhymes: -aːp

gap n (genitive singular gaps, nominative plural göp)

1. gap, opening

   Synonyms: op, rifa, glufa

Onomatopoeic.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡap/
• Hyphenation: gap

gap

1. beating, the sound of action by which someone or something is beaten.

   Synonym: degap

From English gap, from Middle English gap, gappe, a borrowing from Old Norse gap (“an empty space, gap, chasm”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɛp/
• Hyphenation: gap

gap

1. gap,
   1. an opening in anything.

      Synonym: celah

   2. the disparity between communities with regard to life expectancy, education, health, etc.

      Synonyms: jurang, kesenjangan

• “gap” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

• IPA^(key): /ʕɛp/

gap

1. evening

gap

1. imperative of gape

gap

1. manuscript spelling of gab, first/third-person singular past indicative of geban

Presumably from gapa (“to gape”).

• (12th century Icelandic) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑp/

gap n (genitive gaps, plural gǫp)

1. gap, empty space
   • Vǫluspá, verse 3, lines 7-8, in 1860, T. Möbius, Edda Sæmundar hins fróða: mit einem Anhang zum Theil bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig, page 1:

     […] gap var ginnunga, / en gras hvergi.

     […] gap was of void, / but grass nowhere.

2. (figuratively) shouting, crying, gab
   • Haralds saga herdráða 64, in 1868, C. R. Unger, G. Vigfússon, Flateyjarbok. Udg. efter offentlig foranstaltning, Volume 3. Christiania, page 425:

     […] þar uar suo mikit hareyste og gap […]

     […] there was so much noise and gab […]

• “gap”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• gap in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, R. Cleasby and G. Vigfússon, Clarendon Press, 1874, at Internet Archive.
• gap in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, G. T. Zoëga, Clarendon Press, 1910, at Internet Archive.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡap/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ap
• Syllabification: gap

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

gap m pers

1. (colloquial, usually in the plural, derogatory) gawker, gaper, mindless onlooker, rubbernecker

   Synonyms: gapowicz, świadek, widz

   Alternative form: (dialectal) gapa

Because this word inflects as if it contained a terminal [pʲ], which no longer exists in Polish and cannot be represented in Polish orthography, the nominative singular form is in practice used only as a lemma in dictionaries. Most native speakers only recognize this word in its inflected forms.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

gap f

1. genitive plural of gapa

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

gap

1. second-person singular imperative of gapić

• gap in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• gap in Polish dictionaries at PWN

gap m (plural gaps)

1. gap (difference)

• “gap”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28

From Old Norse gap.

gap n

1. chasm or abyss
2. gap; an opening that implies a breach or defect.
3. a mouth, especially when wide open
4. the space between the jaws of a wrench

• gapskratt (“loud unrestrained laughter”)
• gapflabb (“loud uncontrolled laughter”)

• gapa (“to open one's mouth”)

• Apg., p.g.a., pga