agape

adj

1. In a state of astonishment, wonder, expectation, or eager attention; as with mouth hanging open.

   “[…] in himself was all his state, More solemn then the tedious pomp that waits On Princes, when thir rich Retinue long Of Horses led, and Grooms besmeard with Gold Dazles the croud, and sets them all agape.”

   “There I stand, agape like any country bumpkin”

   “That's all well and good; one can sit, agape, reading the copious liner notes to this or any Explorer record, but it's what's inside the jacket that counts.”

   “The restaurant staff and OTHER DINNER GUESTS watch, agape.”

2. Wide open.

   “With his mouth agape and his hands clenched, Rufus Dawes, incapable of further speech, made a last effort to nod assent, but his head fell upon his breast; the next moment, the flickering light, the gloomy prison, the eager face of the doctor, and the astonished face of Vickers, vanished from before his straining eyes.”

   “He tries not to tear his victim's stockings, or whip too close to her stretched vulva, which shivers, unprotected, between thighs agape and straining, amid movements of muscle erotic, subdued, “monumental” as any silver memory of her body on film.”

   “In the last frame, he throws back his head and wails, his mouth agape.”

   “With dropped jaws and eyes agape, a world beholds the blur of Michael Johnson”

   “If the slightly agape mouth is closed prior to mouth opening, this is termed the preparatory phase and is more common in suction-feeding bony fishes than elasmobranchs.”

adv

1. In a state of astonishment, wonder, expectation, or eager attention.

   “Three of us--two biologists and I--were crouched behind a huge boulder at the water's edge and staring agape as the largest bear I ever saw came toward us”

   “"This is Sammy 91," he told the two dozen tourists watching agape."”

   “One features a science teacher looking agape at the camera which has caught him reading red-handed.”

2. Open wide.

   “Its mouth yawned agape”

   “The bathroom door stood agape, and the peeling vinyl floor was bare.”

   “He glanced up into Richard's eyes, his own wide with wonder, his mouth hanging agape.”

noun

1. (uncountable)The love of God for mankind, or the benevolent love of Christians for others.
2. (uncountable)Spiritual, altruistic, beneficial love which wills good for others.
3. (countable)A love feast, especially one held in the early Christian Church in connection with the Eucharist.