dap
/dæp/
dap noun: a plimsoll.
Noun (1)
dap (plural daps)
- A plimsoll.
- I somehow expected them to shout obscenities, and was glad I had come ordinarily dressed, in a sports shirt, an old linen jacket, jeans and daps.1988, Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming-Pool Library, paperback edition, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 169
- A notch cut in one timber to receive another.
- Vulva or vagina.
Verb (1)
dap (third-person singular simple present daps, present participle dapping, simple past and past participle dapped)
- To run or go somewhere quickly.
- I'll just dap down to the shop.
- To create a hollow indentation.
- To drop the bait gently onto the surface of the water.
Noun (2)
dap (plural daps)
- Elaborate handshake, especially hooking thumbs.
- ... where many officers look the other way when blacks ‘give dap’ (the power shake) ...1971, London Magazine, volume 11, page 33
- These bloods just give dap just so they won't be called Uncle Toms.1972, Sepia, volume 21, page 80
- A fist bump.
- Synonyms:
- dab
Verb (2)
dap (third-person singular simple present daps, present participle dapping, simple past and past participle dapped)
- To greet with a dap.
Proper noun capitalized: DAP
DAP
- Initialism of Democratic Action Party, a Malaysian centre-left political party.
Noun (3) capitalized: DAP
DAP (countable and uncountable, plural DAPs)
Phrase capitalized: DAP
DAP
- Initialism of Delivered At Place.
Synonyms of dap
Forms of dap
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | daps |
| plural | DAPs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | daps |
| present participle | dapping |
| past participle | dapped |
| past | dapped |
Origin of dap
Onomatopoeic, from the sound made when a person runs while wearing daps.
US 1971, originally by black soldiers during the Vietnam war, associated with Black Power movement. Originally an elaborate handshake, later specifically a fistbump. Verb originally give dap. Presumably onomatopoeic, or influenced by tap, dab, etc. Alternatively, from earlier slang usage as abbreviation of dapper. Also explained as an acronym, such as “Dignity for Afro People” or “Dignity And Pride”; this may be a backronym or unrelated, but accords with phrasal use as “give DAP” (compare “give respect”). More speculative etymologies derive it from Vietnamese đẹp (“beautiful”), though this is unlikely.
Words formed from dap
Phrases with dap
Words that rhyme with dap
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- scrap
- map
- rap
- slap
- overlap
- pap
- crap
- sap
- yap
- bap
- unwrap
- app
- chap
- frappe
- nap
- uncap
- wap
- entrap
- enwrap
- fap
- frap
- hap
- jap
- minimap
- Phrygian cap
- plap
- recap
- whap
- anion gap
- asap
- bad rap
- belap
- betrap
- cloth cap
- Fanny Murray cap
- FAPP
- GAAP
- ion trap
- katsap
- lagniappe
- mishap
- Noddy cap
- scap
- shrap
- stap
- umbelap
- unstrap
- voting cap
Questions about dap
- What does dap mean?
- Dap means a plimsoll.
- What part of speech is dap?
- Dap can be a noun, a verb, a proper noun or a phrase.
- How do you pronounce dap?
- Dap is pronounced /dæp/.
- What is the plural of dap?
- The plural of dap is daps.
Words near dap in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dap (page history and authors); DAP (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-dap.wav.
Cite this entry: “dap.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dap. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.