clapper
US/ˈklæpɚ/
clapper noun: one who claps; a person who applauds by clapping the hands.
Noun (1)
clapper (plural clappers)
- One who claps; a person who applauds by clapping the hands.
- An object so suspended inside a bell that it may hit the bell and cause it to ring; a clanger or tongue.
- A wooden mechanical device used as a scarecrow; bird-scaring rattle, a wind-rattle or a wind-clapper.
- "Sir, sir! folks' tongues go like the clappers in the fields to drive away the blackbirds. A very little wind makes 'em rattle wonderfully."1896, Sabine Baring-Gould, Arminell, a social romance, Ch. 37
- A clapstick (musical instrument).
- Synonyms:
- clapstick, musicstick
- A pounding block.
- The chattering damsel of a mill.
- A slapshot
- The hinged part of a clapperboard, used to synchronise images and soundtrack, or the clapperboard itself.
- A person's tongue.
- 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...1683, S. P., The Dutch Rogue, Or, Gusman of Amsterdam, page 238
Verb
clapper (third-person singular simple present clappers, present participle clappering, simple past and past participle clappered)
- To ring a bell by pulling a rope attached to the clapper.
- 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.1903, Baron Edmund Beckett Grimthorpe, A rudimentary treatise on clocks and watches and bells
- To make a repetitive clapping sound; to clatter.
- Of birds, to make such a noise by repeatedly striking the mandibles together.
- [W]hile he was away Hinzelmann began suddenly to clapper in the ladies' chamber like a stork, and then said, "Maid Anne, you much go look for your things to-day in the mill-stream."1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume II, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 53
Noun (2)
clapper (plural clappers)
- A rabbit burrow.
- Poore cunnie so bagged,
Is soone overlagged
Plash burrow, set clapper,
For dog is a snapper1557 February 13 (Gregorian calendar), Thomas Tusser, A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie, London: […] Richard Tottel, →OCLC; republished London: […] Robert Triphook, […], and William Sancho, […]...
- Poore cunnie so bagged,
Proper noun capitalized: Clapper
Clapper (plural Clappers)
- A surname.
clapper meaning in Kannada and Persian
clapper in Kannada
- clapper
- ನಾಲಗೆ nālage
clapper in Persian
- the tongue of a bell
- جرس jaras
Synonyms of clapper
Forms of clapper
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | clappers |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | clappers |
| present participle | clappering |
| past participle | clappered |
| past | clappered |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Clappers |
Origin of clapper
From clap + -er.
Borrowed from French clapier.
Words formed from clapper
- clapperboard
- clapper board
- clapperboy
- clapperclaw
- clapperless
- clapper-loader
- clapper rail
- clapper talk
- clapper-valve
- handclapper
- happy clapper
- like the clappers
- clapperdudgeon
Phrases with clapper
Words that rhyme with clapper
Questions about clapper
- What does clapper mean?
- Clapper means one who claps; a person who applauds by clapping the hands.
- What is clapper in Kannada?
- Clapper in Kannada is ನಾಲಗೆ (nālage). See Clapper meaning in Kannada.
- What part of speech is clapper?
- Clapper can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce clapper?
- Clapper is pronounced /ˈklæpɚ/ (US).
- What is the plural of clapper?
- The plural of clapper is clappers.
Words near clapper in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: clapper (page history and authors); Clapper (page history and authors); ನಾಲಗೆ (Kannada) (page history and authors). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-clapper.wav.
Cite this entry: “clapper.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clapper. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.