gaping

Etymology 1

From Middle English gaping, gapynge, variants of Middle English gapand, gapande, equivalent to gape + -ing.

verb

1. present participle and gerund of gape

adj

1. Wide open.
   There’s a gaping hole in the fence.
   Typically for the 'get-on-with-it' era, the railway and military worked like demons to restore the vital rail link. The crater was rapidly filled in and the earth tamped solid, the wreckage was removed by breakdown trains, new rails and sleepers were rushed forward by willing hands, and US Army bulldozers piled in. By 2020 on the same day, both tracks were open for traffic again where there had been a gaping pit just hours before. January 12 2022, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43
2. Having the jaw wide open, as in astonishment or stupefaction.
   The men who stood behind the scenes and worked the religious puppet-show by hidden wires to the awe and astonishment of the gaping vulgar. 1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 2, page 134

Etymology 2

From Middle English gapynge, equivalent to gape + -ing.

noun

1. The act of one who gapes.
   M. Le Gallois considers these gapings, which continue for some time after decapitation, as the vain efforts of the head for respiration. 1820, John Cooke, A Treatise on Nervous Diseases: Vol. I on Apoplexy
2. Something gaping; something agape.
3. A threat or courtship behavior in animals involving holding the mouth open and displaying the teeth or other interior features.