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Flap

//flæp// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    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"

  2. 2
    any broad thin and limber covering attached at one edge; hangs loose or projects freely wordnet
  3. 3
    A hinged leaf.

    "the flaps of a table"

  4. 4
    a movable airfoil that is part of an aircraft wing; used to increase lift or drag wordnet
  5. 5
    A hinged surface on the trailing edge of the wings of an aeroplane, used to increase lift and drag.
Show 12 more definitions
  1. 6
    a movable piece of tissue partly connected to the body wordnet
  2. 7
    A side fin of a ray.
  3. 8
    the motion made by flapping up and down wordnet
  4. 9
    The motion of anything broad and loose, or a sound or stroke made with it.

    "the flap of a sail"

  5. 10
    an excited state of agitation wordnet
  6. 11
    A controversy, scandal, stir, or upset.

    "The comment caused quite a flap in the newspapers."

  7. 12
    A consonant sound made by a single muscle contraction, such as the sound /ɾ/ in the standard American English pronunciation of body.
  8. 13
    A piece of tissue incompletely detached from the body, as an intermediate stage of plastic surgery.
  9. 14
    The labia, the vulva. in-plural, slang, vulgar
  10. 15
    A blow or slap (especially to the face). obsolete

    "1450, Palladius on Husbondrieː Ware the horn and heels lest they fling a flap to thee."

  11. 16
    A young prostitute. obsolete

    "Fall to your flap, my Masters, kisse and clip. […] Come hither, you foule flappes."

  12. 17
    A connected component of the induced subgraph formed by deleting a set of vertices.
Verb
  1. 1
    To move (something broad and loose) up and down. transitive

    "The crow slowly flapped its wings."

  2. 2
    pronounce with a flap, of alveolar sounds wordnet
  3. 3
    To move loosely back and forth. intransitive

    "The flag flapped in the breeze."

  4. 4
    make a fuss; be agitated wordnet
  5. 5
    For a goalkeeper to weakly attempt to play a flighted ball with the hands, failing to control it. intransitive

    "Former Turkey goalkeeper Rustu Recber flapped at his first Delap throw but was given a soft free-kick by referee Antony Gautier."

Show 7 more definitions
  1. 6
    to flutter noisily when moved by the wind wordnet
  2. 7
    To pronounce (something) as a flap consonant. transitive
  3. 8
    move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion wordnet
  4. 9
    To be pronounced with a flap consonant. intransitive
  5. 10
    move with a flapping motion wordnet
  6. 11
    To be advertised as being available and then unavailable (or available by different routes) in rapid succession. intransitive
  7. 12
    move with a thrashing motion wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

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.

See also for "flap"

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