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Ape
Definitions
- 1 Wild; crazy. not-comparable, slang
"We were ape over the new look."
- 1 A primate of the superfamily Hominoidea, generally larger than monkeys and distinguished from them by having no tail.
"Of vvhat texte thou proveſt hell / vvill a nother prove purgatory / a nother lymbo patrum / and a nother the aſſumpcion of oure ladi: And a nother ſhall prove of the ſame texte that an Ape hath a tayle."
- 2 Initialism of alkylphenol ethoxylate. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
"The most important and commonly used APEs are nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs), which account for 80% of the APE market."
- 3 any of various primates with short tails or no tail at all wordnet
- 4 Any such primate other than a human.
- 5 person who resembles a nonhuman primate wordnet
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 An unintelligent or unsophisticated person, especially one who behaves irrationally or in an uncivilised manner. derogatory
- 7 someone who copies the words or behavior of another wordnet
- 8 One who apes; a foolish imitator.
- 9 A black person. ethnic, offensive, slur
- 1 To behave like an ape. intransitive
- 2 represent in or produce a caricature of wordnet
- 3 To imitate or mimic, particularly to imitate poorly. transitive
"And well their dignity it ſuits, / To ape the gravity of brutes."
- 4 imitate uncritically and in every aspect wordnet
Etymology
From Middle English ape, from Old English apa (“ape, monkey”), from Proto-West Germanic *apō, from Proto-Germanic *apô (“monkey, ape”), possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- (“water”), compare Proto-Celtic *abū (“river”) (hence English place name Avon, Irish abha, Welsh afon), if the word originally referred to a "water sprite". Traditionally assumed to be an ancient loanword instead, ultimately probably from an unidentified non-Indo-European language of regions in Africa or Asia where monkeys are native. Cognate with Scots aip (“ape”), West Frisian aap (“ape”), Dutch aap (“monkey, ape”), Low German Ape (“ape”), German Affe (“monkey, ape”), Swedish apa (“monkey, ape”), Icelandic api (“ape”).
From Middle English ape, from Old English apa (“ape, monkey”), from Proto-West Germanic *apō, from Proto-Germanic *apô (“monkey, ape”), possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- (“water”), compare Proto-Celtic *abū (“river”) (hence English place name Avon, Irish abha, Welsh afon), if the word originally referred to a "water sprite". Traditionally assumed to be an ancient loanword instead, ultimately probably from an unidentified non-Indo-European language of regions in Africa or Asia where monkeys are native. Cognate with Scots aip (“ape”), West Frisian aap (“ape”), Dutch aap (“monkey, ape”), Low German Ape (“ape”), German Affe (“monkey, ape”), Swedish apa (“monkey, ape”), Icelandic api (“ape”).
Clipping of apeshit (“ape-shit (crazy)”).
See also for "ape"
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