ape

«ape» in Mova's school dictionary: a large primate with no tail, such as a gorilla… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (an ape, apes); verb (ape, apes, aped, aping — to copy)

meaning for a pupil

1) An ape is a large primate with no tail, such as a gorilla, chimpanzee, bonobo, orangutan or gibbon. tree →

2) (verb, a bit formal) To ape someone means to copy the way they act or talk, often in a silly way. tree →

3) (informal) «Go ape» means to get very excited or angry: «Dad went ape when he saw the mess». tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons pupils learn that apes are different from monkeys: apes have no tail, are usually bigger, and are very clever, using tools and solving problems. Humans are classed as great apes too. In conservation lessons, many apes are endangered because their forests are cut down. In stories «ape» can make a character sound big and clumsy.

examples

• Gorillas are the largest apes. tree →
• An ape has no tail, but most monkeys do. tree →
• Orangutans are apes that live in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. tree →
• The younger boy aped everything his big brother did. tree →
• Stop aping the teacher's voice! tree →
• The crowd went ape when we scored. tree →
• Chimpanzees are apes that use sticks as tools. tree →
• Do not try to ape your betters. tree →

note

Plural «apes»; «an ape». Trap: apes and monkeys are not the same — check for a tail. Myth: humans did not evolve from today's apes; we share ancestors with them. «Go ape» is slang; avoid it in essays. «Aping» (copying) is a verb.

In the corpora

• Gorillas and other great apes build a new nest of leaves and branches every night, or of straw in a zoo.
• Gibbons are small apes that sing loud duets, male and female together, heard about a kilometre away.
• Swinging arm over arm is called brachiation; gibbons are the fastest apes in the trees, reported at around 50 kilometres per hour.
• Great apes do not swim naturally and can drown, so zoos use water moats around ape islands.
• Like all apes, orangutans, gibbons and bonobos have no tails.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «ape» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.