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ape

noun
/eɪp/

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”).

  1. derived from *h₂ep-✻
  2. inherited from *apô✻
  3. inherited from *apō✻
  4. inherited from apa
  5. inherited from ape

Definitions

  1. An anthropoid of the superfamily Hominoidea, generally larger than monkeys and…

    An anthropoid 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. A Hominoidea primate other than a human.

  3. An unintelligent or unsophisticated person, especially one who behaves irrationally or in…

    An unintelligent or unsophisticated person, especially one who behaves irrationally or in an uncivilised manner.

  4. ›+ 6 more definitions

    1. One who apes

      One who apes; a foolish imitator.

    2. A person who invests in meme stock, especially one who uses subreddits such as…

      A person who invests in meme stock, especially one who uses subreddits such as /r/wallstreetbets.

      • I could not think of a better representation of the good in this world, let alone this r***^([sic]) band of apes on Reddit.

    3. To behave like an ape.

    4. To imitate or mimic, particularly to imitate poorly.

      • And well their dignity it ſuits, / To ape the gravity of brutes.
      • But there’s this difference; one is gold put to the use of paving-stones, and the other is tin polished to ape a service of silver.
      • It is not conceived as a mere “aping” in externals nor as an enacting in the sense of assuming a foreign role.

    5. Wild

      Wild; crazy.

      • We were ape over the new look.
      • He went ape when he heard the bad news.
      • Now we just need to create hype around the South Park Sucks Now digital coin, so we need to come up with things to give people FOMO and make them ape even harder.

    6. Initialism of alkylphenol ethoxylate.

      • The most important and commonly used APEs are nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs), which account for 80% of the APE market.

The neighborhood

Derived

ape-baboon, ape-bearer, apedom, apefirmative action, ape-fissure, apefly, Apefrica, Apefrican, apegirl, apehanger, ape hanger, apehood, ape in, apekind, Apelanta, ape leader, apelet, apelike, apeling, apely, apeman, ape-man, apeness, ape-person, aperest, apery, apesault, apeshit, ape shit, apess, apetempt, apewoman, apish, aquatic ape theory, aquatic ape hypothesis, Barbary ape), Bili ape, black ape, bush ape, dental ape · +30 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at ape. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01ape02monkeys03monkey04hominids05hominid06chimpanzees07chimpanzee

A definitional loop anchored at ape. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at ape

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA