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Agape vs Gape - What's the difference?

agape | gape |

Gape is a derived term of agape.



As nouns the difference between agape and gape

is that agape is the love of God for mankind, or the benevolent love of Christians for others while gape is an act of gaping; a yawn.

As an adjective agape

is being in a state of astonishment, wonder, expectation, or eager attention; as with mouth hanging open.

As an adverb agape

is in a state of astonishment, wonder, expectation, or eager attention.

As a verb gape is

to open the mouth wide, especially involuntarily, as in a yawn, anger, or surprise.

agape

English

Etymology 1

* . First known use by (1667).

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Being in a state of astonishment, wonder, expectation, or eager attention; as with mouth hanging open.
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • wide open.
  • * 1874 , (Marcus Clarke), (For the Term of His Natural Life) Chapter VIII
    • With his mouth agape and his hands clenched, Rufus Dawes, incapable of further speech, made a last effort to nod assent, but his head fell upon his breast; the next moment, the flickering light, the gloomy prison, the eager face of the doctor, and the astonished face of Vickers, vanished from before his straining eyes.
  • *
  • *
  • * 2004 , Jeffrey C. Carrier, John A. Musick, & Michael R. Heithaus, Biology of Sharks and their Relatives? , page 171
    • If the slightly agape mouth is closed prior to mouth opening, this is termed the preparatory phase and is more common in suction-feeding bony fishes than elasmobranchs.
    Usage notes
    * Almost always used after a noun or noun phrase it modifies.
    Synonyms
    * (being in a state of astonishment) dumbstruck, agog * (open wide) ajar, open, agog

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • In a state of astonishment, wonder, expectation, or eager attention.
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • open wide.
  • *
  • * 1996 , Perri O'Shaughnessy, Invasion of Privacy? , page 508
    • The bathroom door stood agape , and the peeling vinyl floor was bare.
  • * 2005 , , Chainfire? , page 427
    • He glanced up into Richard's eyes, his own wide with wonder, his mouth hanging agape .

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (agapae)
  • (Christianity) the love of God for mankind, or the benevolent love of Christians for others.
  • spiritual, altruistic, beneficial love which wills good for others.
  • a love feast, especially one held in the early Christian Church in connection with the eucharist.

    • References

    * (wikipedia "agape") * * English heteronyms English terms with multiple etymologies ----

    gape

    English

    Verb

    (gap)
  • To open the mouth wide, especially involuntarily, as in a yawn, anger, or surprise.
  • * 1723 , , The Journal of a Modern Lady'', 1810, Samuel Johnson, ''The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper , Volume 11, page 467,
    • She stretches, gapes , unglues her eyes, / And asks if it be time to rise;
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=9 citation , passage=Eustace gaped at him in amazement. When his urbanity dropped away from him, as now, he had an innocence of expression which was almost infantile. It was as if the world had never touched him at all.}}
  • To stare in wonder.
  • To open wide; to display a gap.
  • * '', Act 1, Scene 1, 1807, Samuel Johnson, George Steevens (editors),''The plays of William Shakspeare , Volume X, page 291,
    • May that ground gape , and swallow me alive, / Where I shall kneel to him who slew my father!
  • * 1662 , , Book II, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 74:
    • "Nor is he deterr'd from the belief of the perpetual flying of the Manucodiata, by the gaping of the feathers of her wings, (which seem thereby less fit to sustain her body) but further makes the narration probable by what he has observed in Kites hovering in the Aire, as he saith, for a whole hour together without any flapping of their wings or changing place."
  • * , Cato Major, Of Old Age: A Poem , 1710, page 25,
    • The hungry grave for her due tribute gapes :

    Noun

  • (uncommon) An act of gaping; a yawn.
    • (Addison)
  • A large opening.
  • (uncountable) A disease in poultry caused by gapeworm in the windpipe, a symptom of which is frequent gaping.
  • The width of an opening.
  • (zoology) The maximum opening of the mouth (of a bird, fish, etc.) when it is open.

    • Derived terms

    *

    Anagrams

    * ----