Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A projecting or hanging piece usually attached to something on one side and often intended to protect or cover.
  • noun Either of the folded ends of a book jacket that fit inside the front and back covers.
  • noun A variable control surface on the trailing edge of an aircraft wing, used primarily to increase lift or drag.
  • noun Medicine A piece of tissue that has been partially detached and used in surgical grafting to fill an adjacent defect or cover the cut end of a bone after amputation.
  • noun The act of waving or fluttering.
  • noun The sound produced by this motion.
  • noun Linguistics A sound articulated by a single, quick touch of the tongue against the teeth or alveolar ridge, as (t) in water.
  • noun Informal A commotion or disturbance.
  • noun Archaic A blow given with something flat; a slap.
  • intransitive verb To move (wings or arms, for example) up and down.
  • intransitive verb To cause to move or sway with a fluttering or waving motion.
  • intransitive verb To cause to strike against something.
  • intransitive verb To move wings or the arms up and down.
  • intransitive verb To fly by beating the air with the wings.
  • intransitive verb To move or sway while fixed at one edge or corner; flutter.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To strike a blow with anything broad and flexible, as the hand; clap; make a noise like clapping.
  • To move in a waving or swaying manner, as wings, or as something broad or loose.
  • To burst out suddenly, as flames; flash.
  • To fall like a flap, as the brim of a hat or other broad thing.
  • To strike; beat; slap; give a stroke of any kind to.
  • To beat with or as if with a flap.
  • To make or cause a swaying movement of, as something broad or flap-like: as, the wind flapped the shutters.
  • To provide with a flap.
  • To let fall the flap of; move the flap of; especially, as in the case of a hat, to bring the flaps of forward and downward, so as to cover or protect the face.
  • To arouse the attention of, as by flapping the ears: apparently in allusion to the “flappers” employed for such a purpose in the feigned island of Laputa in “Gulliver's Travels.” See extract from Swift, under flapper, 1.
  • noun A stroke, blow, or buffet, as with the hand or with any weapon, etc.
  • noun The motion of anything broad and loose; a flapping motion.
  • noun An instrument for keeping off flies by a flapping motion.
  • noun Anything broad and flexible that hangs loose, or is attached by one end or side, and easily moved; that part of anything which projects in such a form.
  • noun A heavy valve used to prevent the entrance of the tide into a sewer.
  • noun In surgery, a portion of skin or flesh separated from the underlying part, but remaining attached at the base.
  • noun plural A disease in the lips of horses, in which they become blistered and swell on both sides.
  • noun plural A discomycetous fungus, Peziza cochleata.
  • noun plural A broadly expanded hymenomycetous fungus, probably Agaricus arvensis.
  • noun In mycology, same as flab.
  • noun In phonetics, a flapping motion of the tongue or uvula or the sound produced by it, as in vocalizing the letters l or r.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To beat with a flap; to strike.
  • transitive verb To move, as something broad and flaplike; ; to let fall, as the brim of a hat.
  • transitive verb [Obs.] to taunt.
  • noun Anything broad and limber that hangs loose, or that is attached by one side or end and is easily moved.
  • noun A hinged leaf, as of a table or shutter.
  • noun The motion of anything broad and loose, or a stroke or sound made with it.
  • noun (Far.) A disease in the lips of horses.
  • noun (Aeronautics) a movable part of an airplane wing, used to increase lift or drag, especially when taking off or landing. used often in the plural.
  • noun a tile with a bent up portion, to turn a corner or catch a drip.
  • noun (Mech.) a valve which opens and shuts upon one hinged side; a clack valve.
  • intransitive verb To move as do wings, or as something broad or loose; to fly with wings beating the air.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English flappe, slap.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English flappe ("slap")

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Examples

  • This flap is about the stupidist thing I have ever heard of.

    Obama student talk draws fire from critics 2009

  • Media Watch: My reaction to the minor, but loud, Miss USA/Miss Teen USA media flap is a personal indictment of the organization which "handles" these newly-minted celebrities.

    View from the Northern Border Michael Evans 2006

  • T. Rex joins me and others in wondering what all the flap is about Mary Cheney; it's just hypocrisy, baby.

    October 2004 2004

  • Whitman says the illegal maid flap is just a desperate last minute political stunt by her opponent Jerry Brown and attorney Gloria Allred, who is a well known Democratic supporter.

    Whitman Denies Knowing Maid Was In U.S. Illegally 2010

  • Whitman says the illegal maid flap is just a desperate last minute political stunt by her opponent Jerry Brown and attorney Gloria Allred, who is a well known Democratic supporter.

    Whitman Denies Knowing Maid Was In U.S. Illegally 2010

  • Anyway, he checked the wound, removed the skin flap, and dressed it for me, and the indoctrination proceeded with my foot propped on a chair and the Book being carried around by helpers.

    and the painted ponies go up and down truepenny 2009

  • He had already lifted the skin flap to depart, when a low exclamation brought him back to the girl's side.

    The Sun of the Wolf 2010

  • The flap is closed again and this time the prayers that are said are for others.

    Archive 2009-10-01 2009

  • Patel RP, AR, Leone NT, Carr MC, Canning DA: Split onlay skin flap for the salvage hypospadias repair.

    Publications of the Urology Division 2010

  • On the tech side, these traditionally-shaped camcorders power-up as soon as the 3-inch LCD flap is pulled open.

    DXG-125V: HD camcorder for less than $100 | DVICE 2009

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