Forms: 3 cleppe (4 klap), 4–7 clappe, 5 clape, 6–8 clapp, 4– clap. [ME. clappe and cleppe (Ancren Riwle, in sense 9), have the form of derivatives of CLAP v.1, and of a cognate verb corresp. to MLG. kleppen there referred to. No trace of the word has yet been found in OE.; but the continental langs. have MDu. clap(p, Du. klap, OHG. chlaph, MHG. klapf, all masc., ‘loud sound, clap, smack,’ which point to a WGer., and (cf. ON. klapp, in handaklapp neuter) perhaps OTeut. (*klappo-), formed in direct imitation of the sound it expresses. (It is possible that sense 9 is really the earliest, and that branch I. is a subsequent formation of the vb.)]
1. The noise, stroke or shock.
† 1. An abrupt explosive noise; the noise made by the sudden collision of two hard flat or concave surfaces; the bang or report of a gun. Obs. (except as in next, or as transferred from it).
1375. Barbour, Bruce, X. 401. Thai … soyn has vp thair ledderis set, That maid a clap, quhen the cleket Wes festnyt fast in the kyrnell.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 79. Clappe or grete dynne … strepitus.
1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, 78. Ergo was the deadly clap of the peece, or driu’n home stab of the syllogisme.
1641. French, Distill., v. (1653), 165. A few graines of this powder being fired will give as great a clap as a musket when it is discharged.
2. esp. The loud explosive noise of thunder; a peal (of thunder). † b. A stroke (of thunder), a lightning-stroke (obs.; cf. sense 5).
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pers. T., ¶ 100. The aire … shal be ful of thonder clappes and lightnings.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., XXXVII. x. It thondred loude wyth clappes tempestious.
1588. in Ellis, Orig. Lett., II. 230, III. 134. The Lyghtnynge and Thunder clapp wilbe bothe in a moment.
1591. Spenser, Vis. World’s Van., 43. The kingly Bird, that beares Ioues thunder-clap.
a. 1599. Hakluyt, Voy., II. II. 103 (R.). A terrible clap of thunder, which slew foure of our men out right.
1752. Parsons, in Phil. Trans., XLVII. 545. With some claps of thunder and lightning at a great distance.
1850. Merivale, Rom. Emp. (1865), II. xiv. 133. The news … came upon them like a clap of thunder.
† 3. Noisy talk, chatter; = CLACK. Obs. or dial.
a. 1420. Occleve, De Reg. Princ., 88. Who so that hatethe moche clappe or speche Quenchethe malice.
[1808. Jamieson, Clep tattle, pert loquacity.]
4. The noise made by striking the palms of the hands together; the act of so doing, esp. in token of applause; an act of applauding, a plaudit; applause. [Cf. ON. handaklapp.]
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., V. Prol. 11. Men, Wiues, and Boyes, Whose shouts & claps out-voyce the deep-mouth’d Sea.
1668. T. St. Serfe, Epil. Taruga’s Wiles, 55. All the clap he expects from you is, not to be hist.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 235, ¶ 9. The Audience is not a little abashed, if they find themselves betrayed into a Clap.
1741. Middleton, Cicero (1742), I. v. 411. The whole assembly expressed their satisfaction by claps and applauses.
1779–81. Johnson, L. P., Dryden, Wks. II. 323. Dryden and Settle had both placed their happiness in the claps of multitudes.
1852. Hawthorne, Blithedale Rom., xvii. Then ensued the applause of the spectators, with clap of hands, and thump of sticks.
5. A sounding blow or stroke; properly with a flat surface; a slap; in mod. Sc. esp. a pat.
? 14[?]. Dan Hew, Munk Leicestre (J. Allde), A iiij. He fel down at that clap.
1483. Cath. Angl., 65. Clappe; vbi buffet.
1530. Palsgr., 205/2. Clappe on the heed, sufflet. Clappe with ones hande, bovffee.
1532. More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 481/2. He will haue a clappe on the tone cheke or the tother.
1632. E. Coote, Eng. Schoolm. (1635), 5 (N.). He … drew out his staffe that had a know on the end, and hit mee a clap on the scull.
1752. Johnson, Rambl., No. 194, ¶ 2. All the forms of … salutation, from the clap on the shoulder to the humble bow.
1823. Galt, Entail, I. xxviii. 252. ‘It was na a pat, but a scud like the clap o’ a fir deal.’
† 6. fig. A stroke, blow, or shock of misfortune, etc.; a sudden mishap. (Rarely in good sense.) Obs. (See also AFTERCLAP.)
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 175. Many grete mishappes, many hard travaile, Haf comen vs hard clappes.
1375. Canticum de Creatione, 477, in Anglia, I. 303. Ffor drede of after clap.
a. 1400[?]. Cato’s Mor., 263, in Cursor M., App. iv. Hope ay of gode hap . to come wiþ a gode clap . wiþ-out ani warne.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, X. vi. 68. He the swerd eschapit … Bot nocht at this time so the deidis clap.
1549. Latimer, Serm. bef. Edw. VI., iv. (Arb.), 128. As in the tyme of Noe, sodenlye a clappe fell in theyr bosomes.
1575. Churchyard, Chippes (1817), 109. Our chiefe, misdouting such a clap … Deuysed fortes.
1662. Fuller, Worthies Barke-shire, I. 83.
| When our Lady falls in our Lords lap | |
| Then may England beware a sad clap [or] mishap. |
† 7. A sudden stroke; in phrases, At a clap, at one clap: at one stroke, at once. In a clap: suddenly, in a moment. Obs. or Sc. (Cf. CHOP, and Fr. phrases with coup.)
1519. Horman, Vulg., in Promp. Parv., 79. They that serche the ende of a mannys lyfe by nygrymanciars be payed at a clappe.
1549. Latimer, Serm. bef. Edw. VI., ii. (Arb.), 60. [He] bryngeth me out a couple of lyes at a clappe.
1580. North, Plutarch (1676), 870. It was a good occasion offered them to kill all Cæsar’s Enemies at a clap.
1605. Shaks., Lear, I. iv. 316. What fiftie of my Followers at a clap?
1637. Rutherford, Lett. (1862), I. 451. Our Master will be on us all now in a clap, ere ever we wit.
1679. Hist. Jetzer, 19. They shewed him how all the Candles in the Chappel at one clap were lighted.
1768. A. Ross, Helenore, 66 (Jam.). And in a clap I’ll back with something be.
† 8. A sudden and violent shutting of a door, accompanied with a loud noise and shock; a bang or slam. Obs.
c. 1730. Swift, Wks. (1864), II. 353/2. Give the door such a clap as you go out as will shake the whole room.
II. Applied to various contrivances that make a clapping or rattling noise.
9. a. The clapper of a mill; = CLACK sb. 3, CLAPPER sb.1 1. Clap and hopper (Sc.): ‘the symbols of investiture in the property of a mill’ (Jam.).
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 70. Þe two cheoken beoð þe two grinstones, þe tunge is þe cleppe.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 79. Clappe, or clakke of a mylle, taratantara.
1530. Palsgr., 205/2. Clappe of a myll, clacquet de movlin.
1759. Fountainhall, Decisions, I. 432 (Jam.). A mill is distinctum tenementum, and requires delivery of the clap and happer.
1786. Burns, Addr. Unco Guid., i. The heapet happer’s ebbing still, And still the clap plays clatter.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. v. He [the miller] maun wait on clap and hopper, as they say.
† b. The human tongue. Obs. In stint thy clappe, hold thy clappe, the sense blended at length with that of 3.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 72. Þeone kuðen heo neuere astunten hore cleppe.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Miller’s Prol., 36. The Reve answered and seyde ‘Stynt thi clappe.’
c. 1420. Chron. Vilod., 839. Ȝe, syre Archebysshop hold þu þy clappe, For y ȝeve no byleve þerto.
1533. J. Heywood, Pardoner & Friar, in Hazl., Dodsley, I. 231. I say, Wilt thou not yet stint thy clap?
1593. Drayton, Eclogue, viii. (R.). Away old fool, and learn to use thy tongue. I would thy clap were shut up in my purse.
† c. The clapper or tongue of a bell.
1608–12. Aylesford Churchw. Acc., in Bells Kent (1887), 136. For a clapp of the bell vs. … for mendinge a bell clap viiid.
† d. A rattle used to summon people to church on the last three days of Holy Week, when the bells were not rung; CLAPPER 5. Sc. ‘A flat instrument of iron, resembling a box, with a tongue and handle, used for making proclamations instead of a drum or hand-bell’ (Jam.). Obs.
1566. in E. Peacock, Lincolnsh. Ch. Furn. (1866), 42. A sacreing bell broken by mt harbotell two clappes broken by mt vicar.
1701. in Chambers, Dom. Ann. Scot., III. 245. Obliged to send clapps, as they call them…. (note) An old mode of advertisement … to send an old woman through the streets, with a wooden dish and a stick to clap or beat upon it.
e. The CLAPPER (sb.1 2) of a beggar’s clap-dish.
1567. Turberv., Ovid’s Ep., 39. And banisht begge hir breade with dish and clap.
10. a. A clack-valve; = CLACK sb. 5. Obs.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Sea-men, 11–2. The Pumpe, the pumpes-well,… the spindle, the boxe, the clap.
1738. Phil. Trans., XL. 232. Two Valves … which open inwardly, and are made like the Claps of other Bellows.
b. Clap of the throat (Sc.): ‘the uvula’ (Jam.).
1688. Tryal Philip Standsfield, 14 (Jam.). When the Clap of his Throat is shut, the water cannot enter.
11. Falconry. The lower mandible of a hawk.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, B j b. The neder parte of hir beke is calde the clape of the hawke.
1575. Turberv., Falconrie, 30. Barbe feathers under the clappe of the beake.
1677. N. Cox, Gentl. Recreat., II. (1706), 81. By your Hawks frequent opening her Clap and Beak. [In Phillips, Bailey, Jonhson, and mod. Dicts.]
† 12. (See quot.) Obs.
c. 1450. Nominale, in Wr.-Wülcker, 721. (Nomina rerum ecclesiasticarum). Hoc pedum, a clappe. [Pedum occurs again as ‘a crowche,’ or pastoral staff.]
III. † 13. (Also clap-bill.) A bill to be clapped or stuck on a wall, etc.; a poster. F. affiche. Obs.
1699. T. Brown, in R. L’Estrange, Colloq. Erasm. (1711), 316. They have Clap-bills too, and set up by authority.
1735. Pope, Prol. Sat., 216. What though my name stood rubric on the walls, Or plaster’d posts, with claps in capitals?
14. Farriery. A disease of horses. ? Obs.
1684. Lond. Gaz., No. 1960/4. A Chesnut Sorrel Gelding … clap on the near Leg before.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., Clap, a Distemper to which Horses are sometimes liable.
15. Comb. (In some of these, clap is the stem of the verb.) † Clap-bait, a kind of worm used as bait in angling; clap-bill (see 13); clap-cake = CLAP-BREAD; clap-door, clap-gate, a small door or gate that shuts when slammed, or that swings to of itself; see also quot. 1888; clap-man, a public crier; † clap-mill, a clapper turned by the wind, etc., for scaring away birds; † clap-shoulder, a. (nonce-wd.), that lays the hand on a person’s shoulder (in arrest); clap-sill (Hydraulic Engineering), the sill or lowest part of the frame against which a lock-gate shuts; clap-stick, a watchman’s clapper. Also CLAP-BOARD, -BREAD, -DISH, -NET, -TRAP.
1681. Chetham, Angler’s Vade-m., iv. § 10 (1689), 39. The other Bob is found under a Cow-turd…, and is also called a *Clap-bait in some places.
1799. G. Smith, Laboratory, II. 253. Cow-dung bob, or clap-bait.
1625. K. Long, trans. Barclay’s Argenis, I. v. 12. A secret way … which divided into three wayes, hath as many *clap-doores opening into several fields.
1847–78. Halliwell, *Clap gate, a small horse-gate. East.
1888. Elworthy, West Somerset Word-bk., Clap-gate, a kind of wicket, called in many parts a kissing-gate. Also a small hunting gate just wide enough for a horse to pass.
1613. Markham, Eng. Husbandman, I. II. ix. (1635), 159. On the toppes of those poales you shall place certaine *Clapp-milles, made of broken trenchers joyned together like sayles. Ibid. (1620), Farew. Husb., II. xvii. (1668), 75. Clap-mils … which make a great noise.
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Wks., 254 (N.). *Clap-shoulder Serieants get the deuill and all,
1834–9. Southey, Doctor, l. (D.). He was Not disturbed … by the watchmen’s rappers or *clap-sticks.
