gap it

verb

Of a white inhabitant of Rhodesia: to emigrate from the country during its transition to independence.

Similar
take the gap
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Meanings

verbgap it (third-person singular simple present gaps it, present participle gapping it, simple past and past participle gapped it)

present singular third person gaps it · participle present gapping it · participle past gapped it · past gapped it

  1. historicalslangOf a white inhabitant of Rhodesia: to emigrate from the country during its transition to independence.

    By 1979, thousands had 'gapped it', or taken the 'chicken run', as emigration was derisively known […]

    2019, David Kenrick, Decolonisation, Identity and Nation in Rhodesia, 1964-1979, page 2
    1 more example

    […] but that he would out-think and out-manoeuvre whatever they could throw at us and if we had to gap it because the odds were insurmountable, who better to be with than Darrell.

    2015, Hannes Wessels, A Handful of Hard Men: The SAS and the Battle for Rhodesia, page 265

    Synonyms: take the gap

Synonyms & antonyms

verbOf a white inhabitant of Rhodesia: to emigrate from the country during its transition to independence.

Similar
take the gap
Also see
take the gap

Origin

In allusion to the gap that separated Salisbury (Harare) from the border crossing point with South Africa at Beitbridge.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

gap it. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gap%20it

MLA

“gap it.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gap%20it. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gap it,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gap%20it.

Source: gap it on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.