gapping

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of gap.

   He is gapping the spark plugs to improve the engine's performance.

   Gapping the plugs correctly helps the engine start in cold weather.

   Note

   The -ing form carries every verb meaning of gap. A mechanic gapping spark plugs is checking the size of a gap, while a smith might be notching a blade and a builder breaching a wall. Two meanings are slang: beating someone by a wide margin and, in New Zealand, leaving suddenly. As a gerund it sits close to the anatomical noun, which names a gap that opens on its own.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The formation of a gap or open space, especially where two surfaces or edges separate.

   The nurse documented gapping at one end of the surgical wound.

   Bone fragments that are poorly aligned can leave gapping at the fracture site.

   Similarseparation, dehiscence, gaping, parting

   Oppositeclosure

   Note

   Clinicians use this word for edges that should meet but pull apart. It applies both to a wound whose sutures fail to hold it shut and to a joint that opens when a examiner applies stress, where the amount of gapping felt helps grade a knee injury. It usually works as a mass noun, in phrases like "prevent gapping" or "the degree of gapping."

3. 3
   noununcountable

   A type of ellipsis in the non-initial parts of coordinate structures that omits at least the finite verb, along with any non-finite verbs present.

   Gapping allows 'Maria studies biology, and Luis chemistry,' where the verb disappears in the second clause.

   In coordinate structures, gapping removes the repeated verb while keeping the contrasting subject and object.

   Note

   A syntactician's term for a hole in the middle of a clause. In "Some ate bread, and others rice," ate drops out between others and rice, and the leftover words carry the contrast. Gapping happens only after the first conjunct, never in it. At minimum the finite verb goes, and any non-finite verbs go with it, so in "Some had eaten bread, and others rice" both had and eaten disappear.

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