flap
/flæp/ noun, verb
- noun Anything broad and flexible that hangs loose, or that is attached by one side or end and is easily moved. “a flap of a garment”
- noun A hinged leaf. “the flaps of a table”
- noun (aviation) A hinged surface on the trailing edge of the wings of an aeroplane, used to increase lift and drag.
- noun A side fin of a ray.
- noun The motion of anything broad and loose, or a sound or stroke made with it. “the flap of a sail”
- noun A controversy, scandal, stir, or upset. “The comment caused quite a flap in the newspapers.”
- noun (phonetics) A consonant sound made by a single muscle contraction, such as the sound /ɾ/ in the standard American English pronunciation of body.
- noun (surgery) A piece of tissue incompletely detached from the body, as an intermediate stage of plastic surgery.
- verb (transitive) To move (something broad and loose) up and down. “The crow slowly flapped its wings.”
- verb (intransitive) To move loosely back and forth. “The flag flapped in the breeze.”
- verb (soccer, intransitive) For a goalkeeper to weakly attempt to play a flighted ball with the hands, failing to control it.
- verb (phonetics, transitive) To pronounce (something) as a flap consonant.
- verb (phonetics, intransitive) To be pronounced with a flap consonant.
- verb (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.
- verb (African-American Vernacular) To talk, especially in a manner seen as excessive, nagging or annoying. “She stay flappin' at me.”
Synonyms
wing ado argy-bargy bangarang bobbery brouhaha bunfight bustle bust-up chaos ferment clamour clatter commotion disruption disturbance flutter foofaraw fracas furor dither pother fuss tizzy flapping fluttering flaps roll undulate wave
Etymology
From Middle English flap, flappe (“a slap; blow; buffet; fly-flap; something flexible or loose; flap”), related to Saterland Frisian Flappert (“wing, flipper”), 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.
From Middle English flappen (“to flap, clap, slap, strike”), related to Dutch flappen (“to flap”), German Low German flappen (“to flap”), German flappen (“to flap”), Dutch flabberen (“to flit, flap”). Probably ultimately imitative.
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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.
- noun A hinged leaf, as of a table or shutter.
- verb To beat with a flap; to strike.
- verb 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.
Etymology [OE. flappe, flap, blow, bly-flap; cf. D. flap, and E. flap, v.]
Etymology [Prob. of imitative origin; cf. D. flappen, E. flap, n., flop, flippant, fillip.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “flap”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details