Dap
name, noun, phrase, verb, slang ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A plimsoll. Wales, West-Country, plural-normally
"I somehow expected them to shout obscenities, and was glad I had come ordinarily dressed, in a sports shirt, an old linen jacket, jeans and daps."
- 2 Elaborate handshake, especially hooking thumbs.
"... where many officers look the other way when blacks ‘give dap’ (the power shake) ..."
- 3 Initialism of digital audio player. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
- 4 A notch cut in one timber to receive another.
- 5 A fist bump.
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- 6 Initialism of double anal penetration. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, slang, uncountable, vulgar
- 7 Vulva or vagina. slang
- 1 To run or go somewhere quickly.
"I'll just dap down to the shop."
- 2 To greet with a dap.
- 3 To create a hollow indentation.
- 4 To drop the bait gently onto the surface of the water.
- 1 Initialism of Delivered At Place. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
- 1 Initialism of Democratic Action Party, a Malaysian centre-left political party. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
Example
More examples"I somehow expected them to shout obscenities, and was glad I had come ordinarily dressed, in a sports shirt, an old linen jacket, jeans and daps."
Etymology
Onomatopoeic, from the sound made when a person runs while wearing daps.
US 1971, originally by black soldiers during the Vietnam war, associated with Black Power movement. Originally an elaborate handshake, later specifically a fistbump. Verb originally give dap. Presumably onomatopoeic, or influenced by tap, dab, etc. Alternatively, from earlier slang usage as abbreviation of dapper. Also explained as an acronym, such as “Dignity for Afro People” or “Dignity And Pride”; this may be a backronym or unrelated, but accords with phrasal use as “give DAP” (compare “give respect”). More speculative etymologies derive it from Vietnamese đẹp (“beautiful”), though this is unlikely.
Related phrases
More for "dap"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.