If you gape, you look at someone or something in surprise, usually with an open mouth. His secretary stopped taking notes to gape at me a grotesque face with its gaping mouth
emphasis If you say that something such as a hole or a wound gapes, you are emphasizing that it is big or wide. The front door was missing. A hole gaped in the roof. + gaping gap·ing The aircraft took off with a gaping hole in its fuselage. a gaping wound in her back