/ · 1894 Brewer’s · A · Abeyance
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really means something gaped after (French, bayer, to gape). The allusion is to men standing with their mouths open, in expectation of some sight about to appear.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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