Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Flap

Flap

,
Noun.
[OE.
flappe
,
flap
, blow, bly-flap; cf. D.
flap
, and E.
flap
,
Verb.
]
Anything broad and limber that hangs loose, or that is attached by one side or end and is easily moved;
as, the
flap
of a garment
.
A cartilaginous
flap
upon the opening of the larynx.
Sir T. Browne.
2.
A hinged leaf, as of a table or shutter.
3.
The motion of anything broad and loose, or a stroke or sound made with it;
as, the
flap
of a sail or of a wing
.
4.
pl.
(Far.)
A disease in the lips of horses.
Flap tile
,
a tile with a bent up portion, to turn a corner or catch a drip.
–
Flap valve
(Mech.)
,
a valve which opens and shuts upon one hinged side; a clack valve.

Flap

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Flapped
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Flapping
.]
[Prob. of imitative origin; cf. D.
flappen
, E.
flap
,
Noun.
, flop, flippant, fillip.]
1.
To beat with a flap; to strike.
Yet let me
flap
this bug with gilded wings.
Pope.
2.
To move, as something broad and flaplike;
as, to
flap
the wings
; to let fall, as the brim of a hat.
To flap in the mouth
,
to taunt.
[Obs.]
W. Cartwright.

Flap

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To move as do wings, or as something broad or loose; to fly with wings beating the air.
The crows
flapped
over by twos and threes.
Lowell.
2.
To fall and hang like a flap, as the brim of a hat, or other broad thing.
Gay.

Webster 1828 Edition

Flap

FLAP

,
Noun.
[L. alapa, a slap. It seems difficult to separate flap from clap, slap, flabby, lap, &c.]
1.
Any thing broad and limber that hangs loose, or is easily moved.
A cartilaginous flap on the opening of the larynx.
We say, the flap of a garment, the flap of the ear, the flap of a hat.
2.
The motion of any thing broad and loose, or a stroke with it.
3.
The flaps, a disease in the lips of horses.

FLAP

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To beat with a flap.
Yet let me flap this bug with gilded wings.
2.
To move something broad; as, to flap the wings.
3.
To let fall, as the brim of a hat. [This sense seems to indicate a connection with lap.]

FLAP

, v.i.
1.
To move as wings, or as something broad or loose.
2.
To fall, as the brim of a hat, or other broad thing.

Definition 2024

flap

flap

English

Noun

flap ‎(plural flaps)

  1. (obsolete) A blow or slap (especially to the face).
    • 1450, Palladius on Husbondrieː
      Ware the horn and heels lest they fling a flap to thee.
    • a1500 The Prose Merlinː
      The squire lift up his hand and gave him such a flap that all they in the chapel might it hear.
  2. Anything broad and flexible that hangs loose, or that is attached by one side or end and is easily moved.
    • Sir Thomas Browne
      a cartilaginous flap upon the opening of the larynx
    • 1998 October, Robert H. Mohlenbrock, “Twin Peaks”, in Natural History, volume 107, number 8, page 73:
      The hairs guide the pollinating insect to the base of the petal, where there is a purplish nectary covered by a flap of tissue.
    a flap of a garment;   The envelope flap seemed curiously wrinkled.‎
  3. A hinged leaf.
    the flaps of a table; the flap of a shutter
  4. A side fin of a ray - also termed a wing.
  5. An upset, stir, scandal or controversy
    The comment caused quite a flap in the newspapers.‎
  6. The motion of anything broad and loose, or a stroke or sound made with it.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 4, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.
    the flap of a sail;  the flap of a wing‎
  7. A disease in the lips of horses.
  8. (aviation) A hinged surface on the trailing edge of the wings of an aeroplane.
  9. (phonetics) A consonant sound made by a single muscle contraction, such as the sound [ ɾ] in the standard American English pronunciation of body.
  10. (surgery) A piece of tissue incompletely detached from the body, as an intermediate stage of plastic surgery.
  11. (slang) The female genitals.
Synonyms
  • (upset): Wikisaurus:commotion
Derived terms
Translations
a side fin of a ray - also termed a flap
  • Maori: hopehope
See also

Etymology 2

From Middle English flappen ‎(“to flap; clap; slap; strike”). Compare Dutch flappen ‎(“to flap”), German Low German flappen ‎(“to flap”), German flappen ‎(“to flap”), Dutch flabberen ‎(“to flit; flap”).

Verb

Domestic pigeons flap their wings

flap ‎(third-person singular simple present flaps, present participle flapping, simple past and past participle flapped)

  1. (transitive) To move (something broad and loose) back and forth.
    The crow slowly flapped its wings.
    • 2004, Robert Jordan, New Spring, page 316:
      He could be flapping his tongue about you right this minute to anybody who'll bloody listen.
An Australian flag flaps in the wind
  1. (intransitive) To move loosely back and forth.
    The flag flapped in the breeze.
    • 2011 September 29, Tom Rostance, “Stoke 2 - 1 Besiktas”, in BBC Sport:
      Former Turkey goalkeeper Rustu Recber flapped at his first Delap throw but was given a soft free-kick by referee Antony Gautier.
  2. (computing, telecommunications, intransitive) Of a resource or network destination: to be advertised as being available and then unavailable (or available by different routes) in rapid succession.
Translations

Derived terms

Dutch

Pronunciation

Noun

flap m ‎(plural flappen, diminutive flapje n)

  1. flap (something flexible that is loose)
  2. (colloquial) banknote

Derived terms

Volapük

Noun

flap ‎(plural flaps)

  1. blow, hit

Declension

Derived terms

Etymology

From Middle English flap, flappe ‎(“a slap; blow; buffet; fly-flap; something flexible or loose; flap”), related to Middle Dutch flabbe ("a blow; slap on the face; fly-flap; flap"; > Modern Dutch flap ‎(“flap”)), Middle Low German flabbe, vlabbe, flebbe, from the verb (see below). Related also to English flab and flabby.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /flæp/
  • Rhymes: -æp

Similar Results