What does "clap" mean?
Clap: To thrust, drive, put, or close, in a hasty or abrupt manner; -- often followed by to, into, on, or upon. He had just time to get in and clap to the door. Locke Clap an extinguaisher upon your irony. Lamb.
Additional senses
- 2.To manifest approbation of, by striking the hands together; to applaud; as, to clap a performance. To clap hands. (a) To pledge faith by joining hands. [Obs.] Shak. (b) To express contempt or derision. [Obs.] Lam. ii.
- 3.To clap hold of, to seize roughly or quickly. -- To clap up. (a) To imprison hastily or without due formality. (b) To make or contrive hastily. [Obs.] "Was ever match clapped up so suddenly" Shak.
- 4.To knock, as at a door. [Obs.] Chaucer.
- 5.To strike the hands together in applause. Their ladies bid them clap. Shak.
- 6.To come together suddenly with noise. The doors around me clapped. Dryden.
- 7.To enter with alacrity and briskness; -- with to or into. [Obs.] "Shall we clap into it roundly, without . . . saying we are hoarse" Shak.
- 8.To talk noisily; to chatter loudly. [Obs.] Chaucer.
- 9.A loud noise made by sudden collision; a bang. "Give the door such a clap, as you go out, as will shake the whole room." Swift.
- 10.A burst of sound; a sudden explosion. Horrible claps of thunder. Hakewill.
- 11.A single, sudden act or motion; a stroke; a blow. What, fifty of my followers at a clap! Shak.
- 12.A striking of hands to express approbation. Unextrected claps or hisses. Addison.
- 13.Noisy talk; chatter. [Obs.] Chaucer.
- 14.(Falconry) The nether part of the beak of a hawk. Clap dish. See Clack dish, under Clack, n. -- Clap net, a net for taking birds, made to close or clap together.
- 15.Gonorrhea.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17 · Modified: 2026-07-17