English Explanatory Dictionary

flap

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Anything broad and flexible that hangs loose, or that is attached by one side or end and is easily moved.
  2. A hinged leaf.
  3. A hinged surface on the trailing edge of the wings of an aeroplane, used to increase lift and drag.
  4. A side fin of a ray.
  5. The motion of anything broad and loose, or a sound or stroke made with it.
  6. A controversy, scandal, stir, or upset.
  7. A consonant sound made by a single muscle contraction, such as the sound /ɾ/ in the standard American English pronunciation of body.
  8. A piece of tissue incompletely detached from the body, as an intermediate stage of plastic surgery.
  9. The labia, the vulva.
  10. A blow or slap (especially to the face).
  11. A young prostitute.
  12. A connected component of the induced subgraph formed by deleting a set of vertices.
verb
  1. To move (something broad and loose) up and down.
  2. To move loosely back and forth.
  3. For a goalkeeper to weakly attempt to play a flighted ball with the hands, failing to control it.
  4. To pronounce (something) as a flap consonant.
  5. To be pronounced with a flap consonant.
  6. To be advertised as being available and then unavailable (or available by different routes) in rapid succession.

Pronunciation

/flæp/ en-us-flap.ogg

Word forms

flap flaps flapping flapped

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.

Synonyms

wing ado argy-bargy bangarang bobbery brouhaha bunfight bustle bust-up chaos ferment clamour clatter commotion disruption disturbance flap foofaraw fracas furor fuss hobbleshaw hoo-ha hoo-hah hubbub hullabaloo hurly-burly kerfuffle mayhem merry hell outcry palaver pandemonium pother quarrel riot rowdydow ruckus rumpus shemozzle shindy splatterdash stir stooshie three-ring circus to-do tomfoolery trouble tumult turmoil unrest uproar upstir tap

Related words

fold lappet

Derived words

alloflap beef flaps beflapped bookflap butter flap cap-flap cat flap cellar flap cowl flap dog flap doorflap earflap eyeflap fanny flaps fireman's flap flap copy flap doodle flap-doodle flap-eared flap gate flapjack flapless flaplike flapling flappish flappity flappy flaps and seals flap seat flap steak flaptrack flip-flap flyflap French flap Gundersen flap Gurney flap in a flap Krueger flap lip flap majestic flap-flap majestic flap flap majestic sea flap flap majestic sea flap-flap meat flaps miniflap mudflap mud flap mutton flaps nan flap pet flap piss flap piss-flap plap swirl flap tail flap Zap flap flaperon aflap flap off flap one's gums
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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