slap

From Middle English slappen, of uncertain origin, possibly imitative. Compare Low German Slappe (“slap”), whence also German Schlappe (“defeat”). Compare also Italian sleppa (“slap”).

• IPA^(key): /slæp/
• Rhymes: -æp

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

slap (countable and uncountable, plural slaps)

1. (countable) A blow, especially one given with the open hand, or with something broad and flat.

   He gave me a friendly slap on the back as a sign of camaraderie.

2. (countable) A sharp percussive sound like that produced by such a blow.

   the slap of my feet on the bathroom tiles

3. (countable, music) The percussive sound produced in slap bass playing.
   • 2019 August 15, Bob Stanley, “'Groovy, groovy, groovy': listening to Woodstock 50 years on – all 38 discs”, in The Guardian‎:

     Havens goes into the terrific Freedom for an encore, which will turn out to be a highlight of the movie; its chopped guitar and conga slaps pre-empt late 90s R&B.

4. (slang, uncountable) Makeup; cosmetics.
   • 1997, James Gardiner, Who's a Pretty Boy Then?, page 123:

     Well, she schlumphed her Vera down the screech at a rate of knots, zhooshed up the riah, checked the slap in the mirror behind the bar, straightened up one ogle fake riah that had come adrift, and bold as brass orderlied over as fast as she could manage in those bats and, in her best lips, asked, if she could parker the omi a bevvy.

   • Quoted in 2006, Matt Houlbrook, Queer London (page 151)

     If you had too much slap on when you went out . . . your mates say too much slap on your ecaf. Yeah. Oh really girl? Yes . . . Go in the lavs here and have a look.

5. (slang, countable) An eye-catching sticker used in street art.
   • 2019, Saskia Hufnagel, Duncan Chappell, The Palgrave Handbook on Art Crime, page 859:

     […] which seek to retake public space for their own expression, using graffiti, stickering, 'slaps' and street art to dissent from the commercialisation of the public sphere.

• cuff

slap (third-person singular simple present slaps, present participle slapping, simple past and past participle slapped)

1. (transitive) To give a slap to.

   She slapped him in response to the insult.

   • 1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter 1, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC:

     Mrs. Flanders rose, slapped her coat this side and that to get the sand off, and picked up her black parasol.

2. (transitive) To cause something to strike soundly.

   He slapped the reins against the horse's back.

3. (intransitive) To strike soundly against something.

   The rain slapped against the window-panes.

4. (intransitive, stative, slang) To be excellent, especially when relating to music.

   Synonyms: bang, eat, rule, rock

   The band's new single slaps.

   • 2019, “Glass Battles”, in PT Music Watch, number 1, page 35:

     There are some cinematic elements, but at the end of the day, the album fucking slaps.

   • 2019 April, Gloria Perez, “Your Things”, in Your Mag, page 74:

     Also I will never get tired of the song "Motion Sickness" by Phoebe Bridgers. Shit slaps.

   • 2019 November, Elly Watson, “The Great 2019 Debate”, in DIY, page 59:

     2016's 'Girls Like Me' still slaps to this day.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:slap.
5. (transitive) To place, to put carelessly.

   We'd better slap some fresh paint on that wall.

   • 2018, “The Secret Ceramics Room of Secrets”, in Bob's Burgers:

     Louise Belcher: "On Monday there was supposed to be some big schoolboard inspection or something, so instead of cleaning the place up, what does the principal do? He panics. He and the janitor and the janitor's brother slap a wall where the door used to be."
     Gene Belcher: "Wall slap."

6. (transitive, informal, figurative) To impose a penalty, etc. on (someone).

   I was slapped with a parking fine.

7. (transitive, informal) To play slap bass on (an instrument).
   • 2007, Jon Paulien, The Gospel from Patmos:

     With no drums, Black began slapping his bass to keep time while Moore's guitar leaped in and out of the melody line.

• cuff

slap (not comparable)

1. Exactly, precisely

   He tossed the file down slap in the middle of the table.

   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

     You just take my orders, Cap’n Hawkins, and we’ll sail slap in and be done with it.

   • 1864, Tony Pastor, John F. Poole, Tony Pastor's Complete Budget of Comic Songs, page 63:

     They called the tom-cat to the trap, / Who molrowed as he smelt at the door, O— / Opened his mouth and swallowed him slap, / All the while most profanely he swore, O!

• just, right, slap bang, smack dab; see also Thesaurus:exactly

slap (comparative more slap, superlative most slap)

1. (slang, UK) Very good, excellent, amazing.

   These cookies are slap.

• slap chip (etymologically unrelated)

• salp, alps, ASPL, Alps, APLS, Plas, PALs, pals, ALPs, Pals, PLAs, laps, PALS, LPAs, SPLA, APLs

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *solpъ.^[1]

• IPA^(key):

slap m inan

1. (dated) rapid, shoot, chute, fall

• “slap”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “slap”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “slap”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech)

• Rhymes: -ap

From Middle Low German slap, from Proto-Germanic *slap-, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₂b- (“to be weak, limp, languid”), see also Latin labō (“fluctuate, waver”).^[1]

slap

1. loose
2. limp
3. slack
4. weak (muscles)
5. flaccid
6. lax

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

slap

1. past of slippe

• “slap” in Den Danske Ordbog

From Middle Dutch slap, from Proto-Germanic *slap-, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₂b- (“to be weak, limp, languid”), see also Latin labō (“fluctuate, waver”).^[1] Cognate with German schlaff and schlapp.

• IPA^(key): /slɑp/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: slap
• Rhymes: -ɑp

slap (comparative slapper, superlative slapst)

1. slack
2. weak

• slapheid
• slapjanus
• slappeling
• slapperik
• slapte
• verslappen

• → Papiamentu: slap

• plas

From Proto-West Germanic *slāp. Compare Old English slǣp, Old High German slāf.

slāp m

1. sleep

slap (plural slaps)

1. A gap in a fence.
   • 1790, Robert Burns, Tam o' Shanter:

     The mosses, waters, slaps and stiles, / That lie between us and our hame

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. A narrow cleft between hills.

slap

1. (transitive) To break an opening in.

Serbo-Croatian Wikipedia has an article on:

slap

Wikipedia ^sh

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *solpъ.

• IPA^(key): /slâːp/

slȃp m (Cyrillic spelling сла̑п)

1. (geology) waterfall

• “slap”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2024

Slovene Wikipedia has an article on:

slap

Wikipedia ^sl

• ſlap (Bohorič alphabet)

From Proto-Slavic *solpъ, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *salpás, probably from Proto-Indo-European *sel-.

• IPA^(key): /sláːp/
• Rhymes: -aːp
• Hyphenation: slap
• Homophone: slab

slȃp m inan

1. (geology) waterfall

   Synonym: vodopad

2. (by extension) a large amount of something falling or curving downwards
3. (obsolete or regional) wave

   Synonyms: val, prival, valček

4. (obsolete) storm

   Synonyms: nevihta, divja jaga

5. (obsolete) vapor

   Synonym: hlap

6. (obsolete, Prekmurje Slovene) gale, storm

   Synonyms: veter, brisavica, vetrc, vetrček, vetrič, vetriček

n=

n=

• reka (“river”)
• previs (“cliff”)

• “slap”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
• “slap”, in Termania, Amebis
• See also the general references

• IPA^(key): /esˈlap/
• Rhymes: -ap

slap m (plural slaps)

1. (Peru) flip-flop, thong (Australia), jandal (New Zealand)

   Synonyms: bamba, chancla, (Venezuela) chola, (Argentina) ojota, (Peru) sayonara

• (Thạch An – Tràng Định) IPA^(key):
• (Trùng Khánh) IPA^(key):

From Proto-Tai *saːpᴰ.

slap

1. cockroach

slap

1. in a quiet whispery, breathy, hushed voice

   phuối slap vạ căn ― to whisper each other

• Hoàng Văn Ma, Lục Văn Pảo, Hoàng Chí (2006) Từ điển Tày-Nùng-Việt [Tay-Nung-Vietnamese dictionary] (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Từ điển Bách khoa Hà Nội