Word.ws English Dictionary

clap

/klæp/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

clap noun: the act of striking the palms of the hands, or any two surfaces, together.

clap: the act of striking the palms of the hands, or any two surfaces, together
Image: Ian Oliver, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

clap (plural claps)

  1. The act of striking the palms of the hands, or any two surfaces, together.
    • He summoned the waiter with a clap.
  2. The explosive sound of thunder.
    • The deafening claps of thunder and the dazzling flashes of lightning which lit up the ghastly scene testified that the artillery of heaven had lent its supernatural pomp to the already gruesome spectacle.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[[Episode 12: The Cyclops]]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC
    • With each clap of thunder echoing from one high building to another the noise was terrific.1953 July, Allen Rowley, “First Impressions of American Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 493
    Synonyms:
    thunderclap
  3. Any loud, sudden, explosive sound made by striking hard surfaces together, or resembling such a sound.
    • Off in the distance, he heard the clap of thunder.
    • Give the door such a clap, as you go out, as will shake the whole room.1731 (date written; published 1745), [Jonathan] Swift, Directions to Servants […], London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], and M. Cooper, […], →OCLC
  4. A slap with the hand, usually in a jovial manner.
    • His father's affection never went further than a handshake or a clap on the shoulder.
  5. A single, sudden act or motion; a stroke; a blow.
    • What, fifty of my followers at a clap!c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
    • But it took him a long time to get down-stairs, and a still longer to undo the fastenings, repenting (I dare say) and taken with fresh claps of fear at every second step and every bolt and bar.1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC
  6. The nether part of the beak of a hawk.
  7. (Yorkshire) A dropping of cow dung (presumably from the sound made as it hits the ground)
    • “Oh! get some coo clap (cow dung), mix it wi’ fish oil (whale oil), put it on, and let it stop on all neet.”1890, John Nicholson, Folk Lore of East Yorkshire, page 139

Verb

clap (third-person singular simple present claps, present participle clapping, simple past and past participle clapped or (archaic) clapt)

  1. (intransitive) To strike the palms of the hands together, creating a sharp sound.
    • The children began to clap in time with the music.
    • To hear a flutter echo, all one needs is a pair of parallel surfaces (and they need not be very large), stand between them, and clap hands. Nowhere else in the vast garden were there any flutters.2008, Floyd E. Toole, Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms, Elsevier
    Synonyms:
    applaud, beclap
  2. (transitive) To applaud.
    • The audience loudly clapped the actress, who responded with a deep curtsey.
    • It isn’t the singers they are clapping; it's the composer.
  3. (transitive) To slap with the hand in a jovial manner.
    • He would often clap his teammates on the back for encouragement.
  4. (ambitransitive) To bring two surfaces together forcefully, creating a sharp sound.
    • He clapped the empty glass down on the table.
    • She clapped the book shut.
  5. (obsolete) To slam (a door or window); formerly often construed with to.
    • Hostesse clap to the doores.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
    • The doors around me clapped.1677 (first performance), John Dryden, All for Love: Or, The World Well Lost. A Tragedy, […], [London]: […] Tho[mas] Newcomb, for Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC, (please specify the...
  6. (transitive) To create or assemble (something) hastily (usually followed by up or together).
    • We should clap together a shelter before nightfall.
    • The rival factions clapped up a truce.
  7. (transitive) To set or put, usually in haste.
    • The sheriff clapped him in jail.
    • She was the prettiest thing I'd ever clapped eyes on.
  8. (slang, African-American Vernacular) To shoot (somebody) with a gun.
  9. (broadly, slang, transitive) To defeat.
    • He started a fight but then got clapped immediately.
  10. (slang) To have sex, fornicate, copulate.

Noun (2)

clap

  1. (slang, usually, with-definite-article) Synonym of gonorrhea.
    • With the mischiefe of the melt and maw,
      The clape and the canker,—1821 [1580 October], Alexander Montgomerie, “The Flyting”, in The Poems of Alexander Montgomery, page 115
    • I stepped out of my tent in Marrakech one night to get a bar of candy and caught your dose of clap when that Wac I never even saw before hissed me into the bushes.1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 172
    Synonyms:
    gonorrhea

clap meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

clap in Hindi

transitive: to applaud by clapping the hands
ताली बजाना tālī bajānā

clap in Tamil

கைத்தட்டு

clap in Marathi

टाळ्या वाजवा, टाळ्या वाजवायला, टाळ्या वाजवण्यासाठी

clap in Urdu

clap, applause
تالی tālī
clap
چپٹی capṭī
More languagesFewer languages
clap in Bengali
তালি দেওয়া
clap in Telugu
కరతాళము karatāḷamu
clap in Malayalam
കൊട്ട് koṭṭŭ, കൈയ്യടി kaiyyaṭi, കൈകൊട്ട് kaikoṭṭŭ, കരഘോഷം karaghōṣaṁ
clap in Kannada
ಚಪ್ಪಳೆ, ಚಪ್ಪಳ, ಚಪ್ಪಾಳೆ, ಚೆಪ್ಪಾಳೆ
clap in Punjabi
ਤਾਡ਼ੀਆਂ ਵਜਾਓ, ਤਾਡ਼ੀਆਂ ਮਾਰਨ ਲਈ, ਤਾਡ਼ੀਆਂ ਵਜਾਉਣ ਲਈ
clap in Gujarati
તાળીઓ વગાડવા માટે, તાળીઓ પાડવા માટે
clap in Odia
ତାଳି, ତାଳି ମାରିବାକୁ, ତାଳି ଦେବା ପାଇଁ
clap in Sanskrit
क्षेप kṣepa
clap in Nepali
ताली बजाउनुहोस्, ताली बजाउन, ताली बजाउनका लागि
clap in Arabic
تَصْفِيق taṣfīq, صَفَّق ṣaffaq, صَفَّقَ ṣaffaqa
clap in Thai
ตบมือ dtòp-mʉʉ, ปรบมือ bpròp-mʉʉ

Examples of clap in a sentence

  • He clapped across the floor in his boots.
  • “I’ve clapped him myself, though of course I know all the time that he’s talking balderdash.[…]”1925, Agatha Christie, The Secret of Chimneys:
  • Her fear gave her strength; she threw Laura away, and clapped to the door.1792, Thomas Holcroft, Anna St. Ives, vol. VII, letter 119:
  • He had just time to get in and clap to the door.1693, [John Locke], “§138”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC:
  • “What in hell makes you think he's got the clap?” Hawkeye asked.1972, Richard Hooker, MASH, page 32:

All 40 example sentences with clap

Synonyms of clap

4 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of clap

Forms of clap

Noun
pluralclaps
Verb
third-person singular presentclaps
present participleclapping
past participleclapped
pastclapped
past participle (archaic)clapt
past (archaic)clapt

Past tense of clap: clapped

Plural of clap: claps

Origin of clap

From Middle English clappen, from Old English clæppan, *clappian, from Proto-West Germanic *klappijan, *klappōn, from Proto-Germanic *klappōną (“to clap”). Cognate with Dutch klappen, Icelandic klappa, Faroese klappa and Danish klappe.

Uncertain. Probably from Old French clapoir (“bubo, inflammation from infection”), from clapier (“brothel”). May also be from old, unsafe treatments for gonorrhea, such as clapping the penis between a book and a hard surface to break up obstructions in the urethra and permit urination. Attested from the 16th century.

Words formed from clap

Phrases with clap

Words that rhyme with clap

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about clap

What does clap mean?
Clap means the act of striking the palms of the hands, or any two surfaces, together.
What is clap in Hindi?
Clap in Hindi is ताली बजाना (tālī bajānā). See Clap meaning in Hindi.
How do you use clap in a sentence?
He clapped across the floor in his boots.
What part of speech is clap?
Clap can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce clap?
Clap is pronounced /klæp/.
What is the plural of clap?
The plural of clap is claps.

Words near clap in the dictionary

  1. Clanwilliam cedar
  2. Clanwilliam cedars
  3. Clanwilliam cypress
  4. Clanwilliam cypresses
  5. Clanwilliam-Erickson
  6. clap
  7. clap back
  8. clap cheeks
  9. clap cold
  10. clap eyes on
  11. clap in

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: clap (page history and authors); clap (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clap (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); تالی (Urdu) (page history and authors); clap (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clap (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clap (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); clap (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); clap (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); क्षेप (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); clap (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-ncalif-theclap.ogg.

Cite this entry: “clap.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clap. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.