[f. FLAP v. + -ING1.]
† 1. The action of knocking or beating; also attrib. Obs.
1629. Gaule, Pract. Theories, 335.
| Iustice conuicts him | |
| not, but Spite contemnes him, | |
| He’s made their flapping, | |
| flouting, spawling Sport. |
a. 1693. Urquhart, Rabelais, III. xl. 331. The banging and flapping of him, to the waste and havoc of their caps, should not, at their return from the palace to their own houses, excuse them from their wives.
2. The action of moving (wings) up and down.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XII. xiii. (1495), 422. By contynual flappynge of wynges the gnatte makyth noyse in the ayre.
1824. Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. Blakesmoor in H——shire. The hum and flappings of that one solitary wasp that ever haunted it about me.
1843. Lever, J. Hinton, xxxiv. The heavy flapping of a strong wing would point the course of a heron soaring towards the river, but his low flight even spoke of solitude, and showed he feared not man, in his wild and dreary mountains.
3. The action of swaying or working to and fro something broad and loose.
1631. J. Taylor (Water P.), Turn. Fort. Wheel (1848), 13.
| They hold your blessinge in no more avayle | |
| Then is the flapping of a fox his taile! |
1841–71. T. R. Jones, Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4), 603. By vigorous flappings of this extensive organ, the animal [the poulpe] actively impels itself through the water in a backward direction and shoots along with wonderful facility.
