clapper

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See also: Clapper

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

clap +‎ -er

Noun

clapper (plural clappers)

  1. One who claps; a person who applauds by clapping the hands.
  3. An object so suspended inside a bell that it may hit the bell and cause it to ring; a clanger or tongue.
  4. A wooden mechanical device used as a scarecrow; bird-scaring rattle, a wind-rattle or a wind-clapper.
    • 1896, Sabine Baring-Gould, Arminell, a social romance, Ch. 37:
      "Sir, sir! folks' tongues go like the clappers in the fields to drive away the blackbirds. A very little wind makes 'em rattle wonderfully."
  5. A clapstick (musical instrument).
  6. (sewing) A pounding block.
  7. The chattering damsel of a mill.
  8. (ice hockey) A slapshot
  9. (cinematography) The hinged part of a clapperboard, used to synchronise images and soundtrack, or the clapperboard itself.
  10. (slang) A person's tongue.
    • 1683, S. P., The Dutch Rogue, Or, Gusman of Amsterdam, page 238:
      Emilia 'tis true could use her clapper with great Dexterity, but he had the same advantages against her, which this had against him; Olimpia 's Tongue was also well hung but she ever had reason on her side, which he with reason could never either blame or oppose, and by both these came his Fortune: […]
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

clapper (third-person singular simple present clappers, present participle clappering, simple past and past participle clappered)

  1. (transitive) To ring a bell by pulling a rope attached to the clapper.
    • 1903, Baron Edmund Beckett Grimthorpe, A rudimentary treatise on clocks and watches and bells:
      It is still necessary to warn clergymen against allowing the lazy and pernicious practice of 'clappering,' i.e. tying the bell-rope to the clapper, and pulling it instead of the bell.
  2. To make a repetitive clapping sound; to clatter.
  3. Of birds, to repeatedly strike the mandibles together.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French clapier.

Noun

clapper (plural clappers)

  1. (obsolete) A rabbit burrow.
    • 1557 February 13, Thomas Tusser, A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie., London: Richard Tottel, →OCLC; republished London: Robert Triphook, , and William Sancho, , 1810, →OCLC:
      Poore cunnie so bagged,
      Is soone overlagged
      Plash burrow, set clapper,
      For dog is a snapper

References

“clapper”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

See also

Anagrams

French

Pronunciation

Verb

clapper

  1. to click (the tongue)

Conjugation

Conjugation of clapper (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple clapper
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple clappant
/kla.pɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle clappé
/kla.pe/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present clappe
/klap/ 		clappes
/klap/ 		clappe
/klap/ 		clappons
/kla.pɔ̃/ 		clappez
/kla.pe/ 		clappent
/klap/
imperfect clappais
/kla.pɛ/ 		clappais
/kla.pɛ/ 		clappait
/kla.pɛ/ 		clappions
/kla.pjɔ̃/ 		clappiez
/kla.pje/ 		clappaient
/kla.pɛ/
past historic2 clappai
/kla.pe/ 		clappas
/kla.pa/ 		clappa
/kla.pa/ 		clappâmes
/kla.pam/ 		clappâtes
/kla.pat/ 		clappèrent
/kla.pɛʁ/
future clapperai
/kla.pʁe/ 		clapperas
/kla.pʁa/ 		clappera
/kla.pʁa/ 		clapperons
/kla.pʁɔ̃/ 		clapperez
/kla.pʁe/ 		clapperont
/kla.pʁɔ̃/
conditional clapperais
/kla.pʁɛ/ 		clapperais
/kla.pʁɛ/ 		clapperait
/kla.pʁɛ/ 		clapperions
/kla.pə.ʁjɔ̃/ 		clapperiez
/kla.pə.ʁje/ 		clapperaient
/kla.pʁɛ/
(compound
tenses) 		present perfect present indicative of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
past anterior2 past historic of avoir + past participle
future perfect future of avoir + past participle
conditional perfect conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive que je (j’) que tu qu’il, qu’elle que nous que vous qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple
tenses) 		present clappe
/klap/ 		clappes
/klap/ 		clappe
/klap/ 		clappions
/kla.pjɔ̃/ 		clappiez
/kla.pje/ 		clappent
/klap/
imperfect2 clappasse
/kla.pas/ 		clappasses
/kla.pas/ 		clappât
/kla.pa/ 		clappassions
/kla.pa.sjɔ̃/ 		clappassiez
/kla.pa.sje/ 		clappassent
/kla.pas/
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — clappe
/klap/ 		— clappons
/kla.pɔ̃/ 		clappez
/kla.pe/ 		—
compound — simple imperative of avoir + past participle — simple imperative of avoir + past participle simple imperative of avoir + past participle —
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
  • past historic → present perfect
  • past anterior → pluperfect
  • imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive
  • pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive

(Christopher Kendris , Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

Further reading

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