op apegapen liggen

The origin of the word apegapen is unclear; it is an extension of gapen (“to yawn”), but the link to aap (“monkey”) is uncertain.

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op apegapen liggen

1. (idiomatic, intransitive) to struggle for breath
2. (idiomatic, intransitive, by extension) to be in a bad state (exhausted or close to death)

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “apegapen”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute