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gaper

American  
[gey-per] / ˈgeɪ pər /

noun

  1. a person or thing that gapes. gape.

  2. Also called horse clam.  a large clam, Tresus capax, common on gravelly and coarse-sand beaches.


ˈgaper British  
/ ˈɡeɪpə /

noun

  1. a person or thing that gapes

  2. any of various large marine bivalve molluscs of the genera Mya and Lutraria that burrow in muddy sand. M. arenaria is the American soft-shelled clam and the two species of Lutraria are the otter shells. The valves have a permanent gap at the hind end

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of gaper

First recorded in 1630–40; gape + -er 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“There’s nothing like the surprising chill of sitting down on a toilet gaper in the dark.”

From Washington Post

Toilet gaper: A commode with the seat up.

From Washington Post

Comber, kom′bēr, n. a name applied to the gaper, a sea-perch, and to a species of wrasse.

From Project Gutenberg

Don't sit mooning there, gaper.

From Project Gutenberg

University of Chicago sociologist Edward Laumann, whose 1994 Sex in America survey painted a far more humdrum picture of America's sex life, says the Carnegie Mellon study may have captured what he calls the "gaper phenomenon."

From Time Magazine Archive