to gape or open wide, especially referring to a gap or opening in something that should be continuous.
From Latin 'hiare' meaning 'to gape or yawn,' related to the root that gives us 'hiatus.' The verb form entered English in the 17th century with anatomical and geological applications.
This word is the ancestor of the more common 'hiatus,' but hiate itself is rarely used in modern English—it's like finding the original template that created a more famous word!
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