subs. (colloquial).—A fit of yawning; also the open mouth of astonishment.
1818. AUSTEN, Persuasion. Another hour of music was to give delight or the GAPES.
1838. HALIBURTON (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker (ed. 1862), p. 373. But what gave me the GAPES was the scenes (at the theatre).
